PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission (EC) will announce before nomination day on Jan 12, 2019, whether Datuk C Sivarraajh of the MIC is eligible to contest in the Cameron Highlands parliamentary by-election, said EC chairman Azhar Azizan Harun.
He said the EC has to refer to legal advisers before making a decision on the eligibility of the former MP for Cameron Highlands.
The Election Court declared the Barisan Nasional (BN) victory in Cameron Highlands in the 14th General Election (GE14) in May null and void after deciding that there had been corrupt practices to influence the voters there.
“The EC is scrutinising the report of the Election Court judge on the eligibility and we are awaiting the outcome from our legal advisers. We will make an announcement soon,” he said at the press conference called to announce the Cameron Highlands by-election.
MIC president Tan Sri S A Vigneswaran reportedly said that Sivarraajh is one of the people being considered as a candidate for the by-election and that he is eligible to contest because the court had stated that there is no evidence that the MIC vice-president was involved in corruption in GE14.
Sivirraajh had polled 10,307 votes to win the seat with a majority of 597 votes in a five-cornered contest in GE14. The other candidates were M Manogaran of DAP (9,710 votes), Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud of PAS (3,587 votes), Mohd Tahir Kassim of Berjasa (81 votes) and B Suresh Kumar of PSM (680 votes).
Manogaran, 59, filed an election petition on June 4 seeking a court order to declare the election null and void for violation of provisions in the Election Offences Act 1954. The Election Court declared the election null and void on Nov 30.
The Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday received a notification from the EC saying the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat had fallen vacant on Dec 15.
Polling for the Cameron Highlands by-election is on Jan 26. Early voting is on Jan 22. – Bernama
