KUANTAN: Pahang Barisan Nasional (BN) is confident of retaining the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat if a by-election is held in the constituency.
Its chairman Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail however said he does not want to speculate on the matter as Datuk C. Sivarraajh is expected to file an appeal against the Election Court’s decision to annul his victory in Cameron Highlands.
“During the 14th General Election, it was a five-cornered fight (BN won with a 597-vote majority). In the by-election we do not know how many will contest... we have to wait and see.
“It is still too early to make any assumptions. The appeal has yet to be filed,” he told reporters after opening a mass circumcision ceremony at KPJ Pahang Specialist Hospital in Tanjung Lumpur here today.
Wan Rosdy, who is also Pahang Menteri Besar, was asked on BN’s chances of retaining the seat, which was won with a slim majority in GE14.
Yesterday (Nov 30), the Election Court in Kuala Lumpur declared the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat vacant after finding that corrupt practices led to the victory of BN candidate, Sivarrajh, in GE14.
DAP candidate Manogaran filed a petition in June seeking a declaration that the GE14 results for the Cameron Highlands parliamentary election were null and void, as the respondent (Sivarraajh) had violated the Election Offences Act 1954 by allegedly bribing voters among the Orang Asli community in the constituency.
Manogaran claimed that Sivarraajh, who campaigned alongside Wan Rosdy, had paid Orang Asli constituents between RM30 and RM1,000 through several Tok Batins (community chiefs) to ensure that they would vote for BN in the five-cornered fight.
Sivarraajh eventually won the seat with 10,307 votes, while Manogaran garnered 9,710.
Pas candidate Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud polled 3,587 votes, Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s B. Suresh Kumar (680), and Berjasa candidate Mohd Tahir Kassim (81).