KUALA LUMPUR: As Tian Chua is no longer able to defend his Batu parliamentary seat, the PKR vice president now says he will support the constituency's independent candidate P Prabakaran.
Speaking to reporters at the High Court today, Tian Chua said he will accompany Prabakaran to introduce him to voters in Batu.
Online portal Free Malaysia Today reported Tian Chua as stating that the PKR leadership had endorsed the move.
Apart from that, Prabakaran also agreed to subscribe to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto, according to Tian Chua.
At 22, Prabakaran is the youngest candidate to contest in the upcoming 14th General Election (GE14).
This turn of events follows the High Court’s decision to dismiss Tian Chua's originating summons against the Returning Officer (RO) and the Election Commission (EC) for not allowing him to contest in the Batu Parliamentary seat.
Judge Datuk Nordin Hassan in his judgement said the application should be brought by way of an election petition before an election judge.
In his suit, the former Batu Member of Parliament had sought a court declaration that he was entitled to be nominated for and to contest for the seat, according to Article 48(1)(e) of the Federal Constitution.
His nomination was rejected on the basis that the Shah Alam High Court, on March 2, fined him RM2,000 for insulting the modesty of a police officer.
He was also convicted last year of insulting a policeman and fined RM3,000, in default of three months’ jail.
He appealed – and the High Court last month reduced the fine to RM2,000 as the offence did not involve bodily harm.