KUALA LUMPUR: Close to 20 witnesses are expected to testify for the three petitions filed to challenge the results of the 15th General Election (GE15) in Terengganu.
Lawyer Amin Othman, representing Barisan Nasional as the petitioner, said the petitions were filed at Terengganu High Court on Jan 3.
The election petitions involved three seats won by Pas, namely the Marang, Kemaman and Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seats.
The case is fixed on Jan 24 for case management, he said.
The decision to nullify result of Barisan Nasional's victory in Cameron Highland during GE14 was being used as precedent to the case in Terengganu.
"We have a basis of claims of corruption (taking place) during the campaigning period.
"We are seeking for the court to cancel the results due to corrupt practices," he said at a press conference today.
Also present was Terengganu Umno chief Datuk Seri Ahmad Said.
Ahmad claimed between RM50 to RM150 were distributed to the voters of the said constituencies, including the disbursement of special incentives given through state government's i-Belia.
In Marang, he said that there was a viral video which allegedly depicted a Pas Marang committee member who urged the voters to swear an oath to vote for Pas, before money was handed to them.
For Kuala Terengganu and Kemaman, Ahmad said there were instances of money being given to voters living outside of the constituency
"Although it was difficult to convince the witnesses, we manage to secure a sufficient number of them for the case."
Ahmad said there should be more constituencies where the party could challenge its decision, but they were unable to get witnesses who were willing to testify.
He alleged that the money was distributed between Nov 15 to 17, few days before the GE15 polling date.
Ahmad also said the Terengganu government approved RM143 million in the 2023 Budget and distributed across age groups through various initiatives including the i-Pencen.
He said that the Pas-led state government never had done so in the past.
"When people should be getting RM50 a month pencen, the state government decided to give a lump-sum of RM600 to them.
"Although this is done by state government whereas the election only involves the parliamentary constituency, this is morally wrong.
"They also give money to voters who are Umno supporters. They manage to convince them not to go out and vote.
"When our constituency office called the voters, their numbers were unreachable.
"I have contested in nine elections, but never seen such amounts of money given out to the voters," he added.
He said that he already lodged a report to the authorities after the election and now decided to proceed through legal means.
In GE15, Pas candidate Che Alias Hamid won the Kemaman parliamentary seat with a 27,179-vote majority by defeating three other challengers including BN's Ahmad Said.
Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang won the Marang seat with a 41,729-vote majority in a four-cornered fight.
Pas also defended its Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat when its candidate, Datuk Amzad Hashim, secured a 40,907-vote majority to stave off three other challengers.