We acted for an elected District  Councillor in defending an Election Petition lodged against her in the High Court, challenging the results of the election on the stated grounds of alleged corrupt and illegal conduct. Nine months after lodging the Petition, the Petitioner conceded that there was no merit to continue and applied for leave with the High Court to withdraw the Election Petition. Lam JA agreed to sanction the withdrawal with costs of the proceedings awarded to our client.

The District Councils Ordinance and the District Councils (Election Petition) Rules provide special and stringent statutory requirements to be followed by the parties involved in the Election Petition on withdrawal of an Election Petition. One of the special requirements is to file evidence to satisfy the court that there is no collusion between the petitioner and the respondent in withdrawing an Election Petition.

Mr Alex Chan, partner, assisted by Sharon Pang, trainee solicitor, handled the case.
(Case number: HCAL 13/2012)