Court strikes out Kunak election petition with costs

KOTA KINABALU (March 5): The Election Court here has struck out with costs an election petition filed by a voter against the victory of Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Seri Dr Anil Jeet Singh in the Kunak state seat.

Judge Amelati Parnell made the decision after allowing preliminary objections raised by all respondents to strike out the petition.

Anil had filed preliminary objections to have the election petition struck out on legal and procedural grounds, arguing that the petition failed to comply with several mandatory requirements under the Election Petition Rules 1954 and related election laws.

Petitioner Md Bustan @ Industan Lumantang, among others, questioned the validity of the election, primarily alleging that several duplicate ballot papers were discovered during the counting process at one polling stream in SMK Kunak Jaya.

The petitioner also contended that the existence of such duplicates raised concerns about the integrity of the ballot printing process and may have affected the reliability of the overall vote count.

Md Bustan had named the Election Commission, Sabah state election officer, returning officer, and Anil as the first, second, third, and fourth respondents respectively.

The court ordered Md Bustan to pay RM10,000 costs to the first, second, and third respondents, as well as RM20,000 costs to Anil.

Counsels Mohd Syarulnizam Mohd Salleh, Nooraihan Mohammad Ali, and Wong Chik Kien represented Anil.

During the Sabah state election on Nov 29, 2025, Anil polled 5,986 votes in a six-cornered fight to win by a majority of 2,118 votes.

On Dec 16, he was appointed Assistant Youth Development, Sports Advancement and Creative Economy Minister.