KOTA KINABALU: Assemblyman Datuk Fairuz Renddan retains his Pintasan seat, which he contested as an independent, after Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia failed in his bid to challenge the result of last year’s state polls.
Yesterday, the Election Court dismissed and struck out a petition from Pandikar, which he filed on Dec 22 last year.
Kuching-based High Court judge Justice Faridz Gohim Abdullah made the decision after granting a preliminary objection raised by Fairuz on Jan 29 to strike out the petition.
He also ordered Pandikar to pay RM10,000 in costs to Fairuz.
The judge, citing election rules, said the petition cannot be sustained.
During the November election, Pandikar who is Usno president and a former Dewan Rakyat Speaker, contested the Pintasan seat on a Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) ticket.
He obtained 3,605 votes while Fairuz won the 11-cornered contest with 4,675 votes.
Pandikar subsequently alleged there were breaches to the Election Offences Act and sought a court declaration that the Nov 29, 2025 election was void and that he should be declared the rightful winner.
It was previously reported that Pandikar relied on the testimony of a 23-year-old voter who claimed she saw Fairuz approach another woman and hand her an envelope containing RM100.
The female voter recorded a video of the act and later lodged a police report after the recipient of the envelope also lodged a report.
Pandikar, who claimed this amounted to bribery, named Fairuz as the first respondent in the petition, the returning officer for the Pintasan constituency as the second respondent and the Election Commission as the third respondent.
However, on Feb 23, Pandikar chose not to proceed against the second and third respondents in his petition, which was struck out with no additional costs.
Fairuz, who expressed his gratitude after the court proceedings yesterday, said the ruling would allow him to continue focusing on his duties as the Pintasan assemblyman and Sabah Assistant Minister for Local Government and Housing.
He had contested as an independent after he was not named as the GRS candidate for the seat.
