Rus’sele’s lawyer, Wan Rohimi Wan Daud, said the application was filed on Monday.

After a case management session via Zoom before Justice Abazafree Abbas this afternoon, Wan Rohimi said the court set March 25 as the deadline for the plaintiffs to file their reply to Rus’sele’s affidavit.

“The court also fixed April 15 for the defendant’s further reply. Subsequently, a proceeding via Zoom before the High Court judge has been scheduled for April 16 to set the hearing of the application and related instructions,” he said in a statement to Bernama.

On Jan 2, the three former assemblymen, who have ceased to be PAS members, filed legal action against Rus’sele to challenge his decision declaring that their seats were vacant.

Ridzuan Hashim (Guar Sanji), Fakhrul Anwar Ismail (Bintong) and Saad Seman (Chuping) filed a motion each seeking a declaration that Rus’sele’s decision was ultra vires, null, invalid and defective.

On Dec 25, Rus’sele announced that the three seats had been vacated as the trio were not sacked but had their PAS memberships “terminated” for retracting support for then menteri besar Shukri Ramli.

While no by-elections are mandatory as the state assembly automatically dissolves within two years, Rus’sele had said he would write to the Election Commission to ask for by-elections to be held as it was necessary to ensure political stability.