According to Ansari Abdullah, counsel for Harris who was defeated by Yong in the Likas state constituency in the 1999 state election, he objected to the preliminary hearing of Yong’s application at the High Court here yesterday, based on three grounds.

Ansari said that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case.

He told Justice Richard Malanjum, who presided over the proceedings in chambers, that the Election Court had already discharged its function and as such, it was subject to the doctrine of functus officio.

Functus officio refers to an election judge who has exercised his authority and brought it to an end in a particular case.

Ansari also contended that the decision of the election judge was final and not appealable, and that the application should be dismissed.

Ansari said the proceedings was adjourned to tomorrow following a request by Yong’s counsel, Alex Decena, John Sikayun, P.K. Lim and Lawrence Chong, who needed more time to prepare their submissions.

Muhammad Kamil then ruled that the result of the 1999 state election for the Likas constituency was null and void, paving the way for a by-election.

Besides the application for stay, Yong also filed a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal against the same judgment.

On June 30, Malanjum dismissed Yong’s application for leave for a judicial review to set aside Muhammad Kamil’s judgment.

The Election Commission has fixed July 12 for nomination and in the event of a contest, polling will be conducted on July 21.