PUTRAJAYA (Aug 15): The Nenggiri by-election, scheduled to be held this weekend on Aug 17, will proceed, as its former Bersatu assemblyman Mohd Azizi Abu Naim on Thursday withdrew his appeal at the Court of Appeal (COA) for an Erinford injunction to be imposed against the Election Commission (EC) and other respondents.
An Erinford injunction is to maintain the status quo of the proceedings, or stay the proceedings pending an appeal.
Following this, a three-member bench led by Datuk P Ravinthran struck out the appeal.
Azizi’s counsel, Datuk Seri Rajan Navaratnam, informed the panel of the withdrawal of the appeal.
However, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, its secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, and Kelantan State Assembly Speaker Datuk Seri Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah, who were represented by lawyers, asked for costs. They were joined in this by the EC.
Amar was represented by Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, Wan Rohimi Wan Daud and Yusfairzal Yusof, while Chethan Jethwani acted for Muhyiddin and Hamzah in asking for costs.
The three said that the application had been filed at the COA on Monday (Aug 12), and they were only informed of the withdrawal on Wednesday (Aug 14).
As such, Awang Armadajaya and Chethan said they had prepared for submissions on the matter, before the withdrawal was made known.
Following this, Ravinthran, who sat with COA judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah and High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid in the online proceedings, ordered Azizi to pay RM25,000 in costs each to Bersatu, Amar, as well as to the EC who had also asked for costs.
Prior to this, on Monday, High Court Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain had dismissed Azizi’s bid to stop the by-election scheduled for this Saturday.
The EC was represented by Senior Federal Counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly and Federal Counsel M Kogilambigai.
“The application raises complex constitutional issues that are more appropriately addressed in the main suit. The balance of convenience clearly holds the role of allowing the democratic process to proceed unimpeded. Considering all these factors, the court is compelled to dismiss this application for an interim injunction,” Roz Mawar said.
The by-election was called as Amar had declared a casual vacancy when Azizi was dismissed from the opposition party, after he was said to have pledged his support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Following that, Azizi filed an originating summons, where he sought a court declaration that his dismissal from the political party in a notice dated June 12 was not valid, that the notice itself was not valid, and that his dismissal was done with mala fide (in bad faith).
Azizi said that an amendment to Article 10 of the Bersatu constitution, which states that a member’s membership would be terminated when the member supports a political rival, is unconstitutional.
He also sought a declaration that the by-election for the Nenggiri seat in Kelantan could not be held or conducted by the EC (the fourth defendant), as the seat was still held by him as the plaintiff.