Election judge Azizul Azmi Adnan set the date after hearing preliminary objections by lawyers appearing for Bukit Batu assemblyman Arthur Chiong and the EC.

Chiong won the Bukit Batu seat with a majority of 137 votes in the Johor state elections last March. He defeated Barisan Nasional’s S Suppayah, Perikatan Nasional’s Tan Heng Choon and Warisan’s Lee Ming Wen.

Suppayah subsequently filed the election petition, claiming Chiong was unduly elected.

He alleged that his request to recount votes in several polling centres was rejected by EC officers and the authorities’ actions in rejecting his request was a non-compliance with the by-laws for the elections.

Suppayah further claimed that he might have won as Bukit Batu assemblyman if the EC did not reject his request.

In the striking out application, senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi for the EC told the court that Suppayah’s election petition did not fulfil the necessary requirements.

He added that Suppayah’s alleged non-compliance complaint also did not affect the result of the election.

“It is a speculation and not a fact,” Hanir said, on Suppayah’s claim that he would have won the Bukit Batu state seat.

Meanwhile Suppayah’s lawyer DP Naban argued that the EC’s action in turning down his request “would have certainly affected the results of the election”.

Previously, MIC president SA Vigneswaran told reporters that they will file an election petition against PKR’s victory, on the grounds that the number of spoilt votes was higher than the winning margin.