Hougang resident withdraws by-election court order bid
[UPDATED: 13 May, 10.10am, added details on Vellama's decision to withdraw her bid]
Hougang resident Vellama Marie Muthu will withdraw her Hougang by-election court order bid against PM Lee Hsien Loong – but only if two conditions are met.
Vellama's offer to strike out her bid is scheduled to be heard on 16 May, which also happens to be Nomination Day for the Hougang by-election.
However, local blog publichouse.sg has reported that her offer is contingent upon two agreements from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), namely:
1. That the AGC withdrew its appeal against Judge Pillai’s decision for the case to be heard.
2. That the AGC would not seek costs against her.
On Friday, the Straits Times reported that Vellama’s lawyer M. Ravi had written to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) to state that the "factual objective of [Vellema's] litigation has now been achieved timeously" and hence, she is "prepared to withdraw her application".
But it did not include the two conditions that Vellama had set.
Last Wednesday, PM Lee announced that Polling Day for Hougang's by-election has been set on 26 May.
The single-member constituency (SMC) seat has been left vacant since 14 February, when former MP Yaw Shin Leong was expelled from the Workers' Party.
Vellama's case, which began when she filed an application in court on March 2, is currently pending in court after the AGC appealed against a High Court judge's decision to grant leave for the case to be heard in open court.
At the most recent hearing last month, her lawyer M Ravi told Justice Andrew Phang at the Court of Appeal (CA) that the Attorney General (AG) does not have an automatic right of appeal to the Court in the Hougang by-election case.
The hearing was convened to hear the AG’s appeal against High Court Judge Philip Pillai’s decision to grant leave for Vellama's application.
At the heart of Vellama’s application were the questions of whether the Prime Minister has the option to call a by-election, and when he should call one, in situations where a parliamentary seat is made vacant for various reasons.
Vellama is raising the matter with the Court after PM Lee Hsien Loong had said that he would give careful consideration to “whether and when” he would call a by-election in Hougang constituency.
The parliamentary seat in the ward was vacated after the opposition Workers’ Party sacked its Member of Parliament for the area, Yaw Shin Leong, on 14 February.
The Prime Minister later clarified in Parliament that he “intend[s] to call a by-election in Hougang.”
However, Ravi told the court last month that this is different from what is required under the law – that holding a by-election is mandatory, not optional, for the PM.
The Prime Minister “could not frustrate the intent of the law by using his discretion… to effectively defer a by-election until the next General Election,” Ravi said.
Ravi told the court that the point that the Prime Minister has the discretion to decide on when to call a by-election is not being disputed. What he is asserting is that such discretion is not absolute – that it is subject to reasonable
