A-GC raises preliminary objection in woman's suit to disqualify Anwar
Court has no jurisdiction to hear bid to strike out Anwar's eligibility to contest, says counsel
THE Attorney-General’s Chambers (A-GC) yesterday raised a preliminary objection against an originating summons filed by Noraziah Mohd Shariff, a registered voter in Port Dickson, to seek a declaration that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is not qualified to contest any parliamentary seat following his conviction in a criminal case.
Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan, who acted for the Federal Territories Pardons Board that was named as the second respondent, raised the objection in chambers, saying that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the suit as any disputes involving elections should be filed by way of an election petition.
“The court has fixed Nov 8 to hear the preliminary objection,” she said after the case came up in the chambers of High Court judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi.
Anwar had filed an application to strike out the suit filed by Noraziah.
Anwar’s counsel, J. Leela, said the case, which was supposedly fixed for hearing yesterday, had been postponed as lawyer Datuk M. Reza Hassan, who represented Noraziah, needed to get further instructions from his client on the striking out application.
“The A-GC has also raised a preliminary objection on grounds that the legal action should be filed by way of an election petition and not through an originating summons,” she said.
Reza said he had received the documents of Anwar’s application yesterday and needed to go through it.
Anwar’s application was made on the grounds of non-justiciability of the full pardon and the voter did not have legal standing (locus standi).
On Sept 28, Noraziah, 38, filed the originating summons naming Anwar and the Pardons Board as respondents.
She is also seeking a declaration that the pardon given to Anwar was null and void as the Pardons Board advising the Yang diPertuan Agong on the matter was not formed in accordance with Article 42 (5) of the Federal Constitution.
Noraziah was also seeking an order that Anwar, who is Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Port Dickson byelection candidate, is not qualified to contest any parliamentary seat until his disqualification period is over.
In her affidavit, Noraziah said she sought the order as Article 48 (1) (e) of the Federal Constitution stated that someone who has been convicted of an offence and sentenced to jail for a term of more than a year and fined not less that RM2,000 is disqualified from being a member of parliament.
She said Anwar was released from prison on May 16 after receiving a royal pardon for the criminal offence, which disqualified him from becoming an MP.
However, she said, in granting a full pardon to Anwar, the Yang DiPertuan Agong did not remove Anwar’s disqualification as provided under Article 48(1) (e) of the Federal Constitution.
Noraziah’s originating summons was submitted together with a certificate of urgency to have the court hear the summons immediately on the grounds that the Port Dickson by-election would take place on Saturday.