KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang said his party will support independent Batu candidate P. Prabakaran’s campaign now that the former is effectively barred from the election.
Speaking to reporters after the High Court threw out his legal challenge against the Election Commission this morning, the politician commonly called Tian Chua said he will spend the remainder of the campaign period helping Prabakaran win the federal seat.
“It is not too late, campaigning efforts will still continue with the help of Prabakaran, we will not allow Barisan Nasional a walkover-win,” he said outside the courtroom today,
“I am disappointed by the decision of the court, but Prabakaran is young, energetic and idealistic, we hope to groom him to be an activist.”
Chua said they would support Prabakaran by printing campaign material for his bid.
The 22-year-old law student is the youngest candidate to contest in the upcoming election.
Aside from Prabakaran, the other candidates for the seat are Datuk Dr Dominic Lau from BN-Gerakan, PAS Batu chief Azhar Yahya, and another independent, Datuk VM Panjamothy.
On nomination, the EC ruled that Chua was disqualified by a RM2,000 fine he received in March, notwithstanding the High Court’s explanation that the amount was chosen explicitly to avoid affecting his eligibility to run for and hold office.
Chua sued the EC and the returning officer on Monday, and claimed in his supporting affidavit that the fine had not caused him to be disqualified as Batu MP previously and should not have prevented him from contesting now.
