Pujut constituency vacant after Dr Ting’s disqualification

THE Pujut state constituency is vacant after DAP’s Dr Ting Tiong Choon was voted out of the State Legislative Assembly ( DUN) yesterday.

The DUN secretariat will issue a notice on the disqualification of Dr Ting to the Election Commission (EC), which will then proceed with a by- election.

According to the election laws of Malaysia, the by- election for any seat that falls vacant has to be called within 60 days.

EC chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah said in a press statement yesterday the commission is still waiting for a formal notice from DUN Speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar on the disqualification of Dr Ting.

Hashim said the commission only learned of Dr Ting’s disqualification through media reports at the time of the issuance of the statement.

“EC will act only after receiving official notification,” concluded the brief statement.

In the last state election, Dr Ting defended the seat for DAP after garnering 8,899 votes in a four- cornered against Datuk Hii King Chiong of BN, Jofri Jaraiee of PAS and Independent candidate Fong Pau Teck.

Dr Ting won the election with a 1,759 vote-majority.

Prior to his disqualification, BN’s direct candidate Hii filed an election petition against Dr Ting on June 16, 2016 for the court to declare the election result null and void, and the candidate who got the second highest votes as winner.

On Oct 10, the Election Court threw out the petition on technical grounds of having failed to comply with the regulations on submission of election petitions.