PUTRAJAYA: Former Nenggiri assemblyman Azizi Abu Naim has withdrawn his appeal at the Court of Appeal today against the High Court’s decision to dismiss his application for an interim injunction to stop the by-election for the state seat this Saturday.
Lawyer Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, representing Kelantan Assembly Speaker Amar Nik Abdullah, said Azizi also withdrew his application for an Erinford injunction.
He said a three-judge panel – comprising Court of Appeal Justices P Ravinthran, Collin Lawrence Sequerah and High Court Justice Ahmad Kamal Shahid – struck out Azizi’s appeal and application for an Erinford injunction during online proceedings today, confirmed by Azizi’s counsel, Rajan Navaratnam.
Awang Armadajaya said the by-election will proceed as scheduled this Saturday.
He said that during the proceedings, he requested RM50,000 in costs due to the late withdrawal of the appeal because he had put extensive effort into preparing the case and this was agreed upon by other respondents.
Awang Armadajaya said the court then ordered Azizi to pay RM25,000 in costs to Amar, another RM25,000 in costs to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and the party’s secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin, and RM25,000 in costs to the Election Commission (EC).
On Tuesday, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed Azizi’s application for an interim injunction, prompting him to appeal.
Azizi sought an interim injunction to suspend the by-election, pending the High Court’s decision over his legal challenge to his dismissal from Bersatu.
In his originating summons, Azizi named Muhyiddin, Hamzah, Amar and the EC as respondents.
On June 27, the same High Court dismissed Azizi’s application for an ad interim injunction, ruling that he did not suffer from any irreparable harm since he could still participate in the by-election.
In the originating summons, Azizi had sought a court declaration that his dismissal from the political party in a notice dated June 12 was not valid, that the notice itself was not valid, and that his dismissal was made mala fide (in bad faith).
He also sought a declaration that the EC cannot proceed with the Nenggiri by-election, because he was still the assemblyman.
Azizi contended that an amendment to Article 10 of the Bersatu constitution, which terminates membership if the member supports a political rival, is unconstitutional.
Other lawyers representing Amar were Wan Rohimi Wan Daud, Yusfarizal Yusof and Kelantan state legal adviser Adam Mohamed, while lawyer Chetan Jethwani acted for Muhyiddin and Hamzah.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly Arwi and federal counsel M Kogilambigai appeared for the EC.
