MIC's Ramasamy challenges dismissal of election petition

Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate M Ramasamy has filed an appeal to the Federal Court over the High Court's dismissal of his election petition to challenge the result of the contest for the Segamat parliamentary seat during the 15th general election (GE15) in November last year.

The notice of appeal was filed on April 14 this year.

On April 3, the High Court in Muar, Johor, dismissed Ramasamy’s petition after ruling that there was non-compliance with the requirements of the Election Offences Act and the Election Petition Rules.

Ramasamy, who is MIC's treasurer, stood as a candidate for BN for the Segamat seat in the GE15 but lost to Pakatan Harapan candidate R Yuneswaran.

Yuneswaran won with a majority of 5,669 votes in the four-cornered fight against Ramasamy, Perikatan Nasional’s P Poobalan and Pejuang’s Syed Hairoul Faizey.

Ramasamy’s appeal is fixed for case management before the Federal Court deputy registrar on May 9.
 
In his petition, Ramasamy sought, among others, a declaration that the election for the Segamat seat was void and that Yuneswaran was not duly elected as the MP for Segamat.

High Court judge Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid said a petition should not be based on inferences and presumptions but on actual and material facts.

He said he agreed with Yuneswaran’s counsel’s submission that Ramasamy’s petition lacked material facts that were clear and precise.

Radzi also accepted the preliminary objection by the respondents Yuneswaran, the returning officer for Segamat and the election commission to get Ramasamy’s petition dismissed.

The preliminary objection raised by the respondents included that Ramasamy failed to comply with Rule 15(4) of the Election Petition Rules 1954 on the particulars of his affidavit of service and his failure to comply with the election petition rules regarding the facts pleaded in his petition which was incapable of sustaining the declarations sought.