PETALING JAYA: The Federal Court today rejected an application by two former Penang assemblymen who were seeking leave to challenge their removal from the state legislature in March 2023.
A three-judge panel, led by Chief Judge of Malaya Hasnah Hashim, ruled that there were no merits in the application filed by former Sungai Acheh assemblyman Zulkifli Ibrahim and former Seberang Jaya assemblyman Dr Afif Bahardin.
Hasnah, sitting with Federal Court judges Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, did not make any order as to costs, Bernama reported.
The two former assemblymen, through their lawyer Azhar Azizan Harun, had requested the court to grant them leave to appeal, arguing that there are four novel questions of law for the Federal Court to determine.
However, lawyer A Surendra Ananth, representing the state legislative assembly and its speaker, Law Choo Kiang, countered that the applicants had failed to meet the requirements under Section 96(a) and (b) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
On Dec 8, 2023, Penang High Court judge Anand Ponnudurai ruled that Zulkifli and Afif were correctly disqualified from the state assembly following their expulsion from PKR, in accordance with Article 14A of the state constitution, which prohibits party hopping.
Zulkifli and Afif were sacked by PKR following the Sheraton Move in 2020.
A motion for the four assemblymen’s removal was proposed to the assembly by then deputy chief minister Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abdul Rahman in February 2023 under the state’s anti-hopping provision, passed in 2012.
The four had contested the 2018 state election under the PKR logo. At the time, Pakatan Harapan consisted of PKR, DAP, Amanah and Bersatu.
However, Anand held that two other former assemblymen from Bersatu – Khaliq Mehtab Ishaq (Bertam) and Zolkifly Lazim (Teluk Bahang) – had not lost their seats as the state’s anti-hopping provision did not apply to them.
Law, the speaker at the time, did not appeal the decision in favour of Khaliq and Zolkifly.
Zulkifli and Afif’s appeals in the Court of Appeal were dismissed on Nov 26 last year. They then filed an application seeking leave to appeal to the Federal Court.
In today’s proceedings, lawyer Chetan Jethwani also represented Zulkifli and Afif.
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