Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Court on Thursday affirmed the election of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk Shahelmey Yahya as Putatan MP after dismissing an appeal by Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Awang Husaini Sahari.
The three-member apex court panel comprising Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang unanimously dismissed Awang Husaini’s appeal against the election court’s decision with a cost of RM50,000.
Awang Husaini had lost to Shahelmey in the 15th general election (GE15) by 124 votes.
Shahelmey won the seat in a four-cornered contest after garnering 16,234 votes.
Awang Husaini obtained 16,110 votes, followed by Warisan’s Ahmad Said (8,511) and Pejuang’s Poyne Tudus (394).
In January, Awang Husaini filed an election petition seeking to annul the results for the Putatan seat.
Counsels Datuk Marzuki Spawi, Saiful Azian Mokhtar, Rizwandean M Borhan and Hassan Murtaza acted for Shahelmey.
