PETALING JAYA: The Election Commission (EC) has banned Datuk C. Sivarraajh (pic) from becoming a candidate or voter in any election for the next five years.

As such, the MIC vice-president will not be able to run in the coming Cameron Highlands by-election.

Announcing this, EC chairman Azhar Azizan Harun said the decision was made after a careful study of the Election Court's decision on Nov 30.

"After studying the decision and reports under Section 36(2)(a) and Section 37 of the Election Offences Act 1954, and also considering legal views under the Act, Sivarraajh cannot be registered or listed as a voter and cannot vote in any election for the next five years beginning Dec 13.

"He cannot become a candidate in any election," he said in a statement Friday.

Azhar Azizan said that the EC took all necessary steps in accordance with the Act and existing election regulations in its decision.

On June 4, DAP candidate M. Manogaran filed a petition to nullify the general election result.

In his petition, he claimed that both Sivarraajh and Jelai assemblyman Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, who is also Pahang Mentri Besar, had met nine village heads and gave them money, asking them to distribute between RM30 and RM1,000 each to the orang asli community.

High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) judge Justice Azizah Nawawi said the petitioner, Manogaran, had established beyond reasonable doubt that bribery took place during the election.

In GE14, 14, Sivarraajh won the parliamentary seat with a slim 597-vote majority over four other candidates.

He garnered 10,307 votes, beating DAP's Manogaran who got 9,710 votes, Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud (PAS, 3,587 votes), Mohd Tahir Kassim (Berjasa, 81 votes), and B. Suresh Kumar (PSM, 680 votes).