This assemblymen – Dr Afif Bahardin, Zulkifli Ibrahim, Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq and Zolkifly Md Lazim – had filed an injunction against the Penang state assembly from passing a motion to vacate their seats after they shifted allegiance to PN.

Chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state would now ask the High Court to convene as soon as possible to hear from the parties in the case.

He said this would allow the assemblymen to decide whether they wanted to go ahead with the suit or drop it since the Federal Court had declared Penang’s anti-hopping law as legitimate.

“Any decision made by the High Court shall be part of the process in declaring the affected seats vacant, as the case may be.

“The Penang government remains resolute in upholding the voters’ mandate, and elected representatives must be held accountable for actions contrary to the given mandate,” he said in a statement.

Chow said a special sitting to amend the Penang constitution was not necessary at this juncture since the Federal Court verdict was sufficient.

The four assemblymen’s originating summons was filed after Penang’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) announced that it would be filing a motion to vacate the seats of the four assemblymen.

The PH state government would remain unaffected even if these four leave the coalition as they hold a two-thirds majority in the assembly.

Afif and Zulkifli were sacked from PKR after they switched their allegiance to Perikatan Nasional (PN), while Khaliq and Zolkifly were originally from Bersatu.

They had previously filed an injunction against the Penang legislature from passing a motion to vacate their seats after they decided to support PN.

The motion was then deferred to avoid the prospect of having by-elections during the pandemic.