Mat Yusoff loses Nenggiri seat

KOTA BARU: Datuk Mat Yusoff Abd Ghani (pic) lost his Nenggiri state seat after he was voted out during the Kelantan state assembly sitting.

Speaker Datuk Abdullah Ya’kub declared the seat vacant effective yesterday based on the votes cast to disqualify Mat Yussof based on the Insolvency Department’s decision to declare him a bankrupt.

In the balloting held at the state assembly here, 32 out of the 45 assemblymen voted to disqualify the Umno assemblyman. Nine others abstained while three assemblymen were absent.

“I hereby declare Mat Yusoff is no longer qualified to be an assemblyman, and the Nenggiri seat is vacant effective today (yesterday),” the Speaker announced.

On June 1, Abdullah had called a press conference to announce the seat vacant based on Selangor Insolvency Department’s letter dated May 28 affirming Mat Yusoff’s status as a bankrupt.

On June 7, Mat Yusoff hit back at the Speaker, claiming that the Speaker had breached the state constitution by declaring the seat vacant without the consent of the state assembly.

Mat Yusoff pointed out that the House should have decided on the disqualification of an elected representative as stipulated under Article 32 of the state constitution. The Article stated that the state assembly should be the proper forum to decide on the dis-qualification of an elected representative.

Yesterday’s balloting was held following the call by state Human Development, Education and Higher Studies committee chairman Datuk Dr Mohamed Fadzli Hassan to resolve the issue.

In the 2013 general election, Mat Yusoff won 6,654 votes to defeat PKR’s Mohammad Azihan Che Seman and independent candidate Abd Aziz Mohamed by a 3,849-vote majority.