KOTA BARU, Tues: There will be a by-election in the Gua Musang parliamentary constituency following a High Court declaration that the result of the last election is null and void.

Parti Melayu Semangat 46 president Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah won it in a straight fight with an Angkatan Keadilan Insan candidate after Datuk Hussein Ahmad of Barisan Nasional was disqualified.

The court allowed the petition filed on June 28 by Hussein who was disqualified because of an error in his given address. He had written it as Teratak Huda in Pasir Mas, instead of an address in Gua Musang. 

Hussein named Tengku Razaleigh as the first respondent, Nik Ismail Wan Idris of Akim as the second, returning officer Ismail Latif third, and the Election Commission as the fourth respondent.

Justice Datuk Azmel Maamor ordered Razaleigh, Ismail and the commission to pay costs. He said the returning officer did not exercise his discretion judiciously when he rejected Hussein’s nomination and therefore he had erred in his decision.

He said he agreed with the submission by Datuk Zaki Azmi (for Hussein) when he said, “the words liable to be rejected makes it not mandatory for the returning officer to reject the nomination paper and the manner it is worded gives a discretion for the returning officer to reject the nomination pa-per.”

Azmel said it is’ not enough for the returning officer to exercise his discretion judiciously and he should not depend entirely on what others advise or instruct him to do.