The petitioner’s request is justified. Irfan Rahman, Electoral Commissioner, and Marie Esthelle Magalie Lambert-Henry, Returning Officer in constituency no. 15 in the last legislative elections, will have to file in court. This was the ruling of Justices Benjamin Marie Joseph and Ratna Seetohul-Toolsee this week. They stated that the motion by Gavin Glover, the lawyer for Cader Sayed Hossen, the petitioner, to have Irfan Rahman and the Returning Officer questioned about their “personal answers” is justified. The judges thus overruled the objections of Mᵉ Sooraya Gareeboo, Assistant Solicitor General, who represents the Electoral Commissioner and the Returning Officer.
This petition concerned Cader Sayed-Hossen came in fourth place in this electoral contest with 15,565 votes while Gilbert Bablee came in third place with 15,614 votes. Last Febrauary, the electoral commissioner Irfan Rahman said he did not wish to file in relation to “personal answers” in the electoral petition of Cader Sayed Hossen, defeated candidate of the National Alliance, in the last legislative elections of 2019 against Gilbert Bablee; a gap of only 49 votes separates the two candidates.
