Perak Speaker Informs EC Behrang, Changkat Jering Seats Vacant

(Bernama) — Perak State Legislative Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar has handed over an official letter to the Election Commission (EC) informing that the Behrang and Changkat Jering seats are now vacant.

In a one-paragraph statement faxed to Bernama here, he said, the letter was handed over to Perak EC director Ahmad Adli Abdullah at 8am at the EC office here.

Yesterday, Sivakumar announced that he had received the resignation letters of Behrang assemblyman Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Changkat Jering assemblyman Mohd Osman Jailu.

The two Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) assemblymen, however, denied that they had resigned.

They claimed that the letters received by Sivakumar were the undated resignation letters which they signed after the 12th general election in March last year.

Ahmad Adli, when contacted by Bernama, confirmed that he had received the letter and said that he would hand it over to the EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof for further action.

Asked on whether the declaration of the two seats' vacancy were valid in view of Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman's denials, Abdul Adli said, he would leave the matter to the EC chairman to decide.

"Today is a public holiday in Putrajaya (in conjunction with the Federal Territories Day). I think we can expect a decision tomorrow," he said.

Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman would hold a separate news conference in Shah Alam and Kuala Lumpur respectively this afternoon.

Both of them went missing for days last week, fuelling speculations that they were joining the Barisan Nasional.

Yesterday, Sivakumar announced the duo's resignations just hours after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi alluded the possibility of several Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives in Perak joining the national coalition.