JUDGMENT

Augustine Paul J:

The petitioner in this case is Dr Lee Chong Meng who was a candidate in the Parliamentary Constituency of Bukit Bintang in the General Election held on 29 November 1999. The respondents were the returning officer (the first respondent), the Election Commission (the second respondent) and the returned candidate, Fong Kui Lun (the third respondent), for the constituency. On 29 March 2000 I struck out the first and second respondents as being persons who are not proper and necessary parties to the petition. At the same time I intimated to the parties that the petition does not appear to have been regularly served on the third respondent as required by rr. 10 and 15 of the Election Petition Rules 1954 ("r. 10" and "r. 15"). This is because a perusal of the court file revealed that as the third respondent had not complied with r. 10 the petitioner had posted a notice on the High Court notice board as stipulated by r. 15 but, instead of leaving a copy of the petition with the court as required, proceeded to effect personal service of the petition on him. Proper service of the petition is a condition precedent to the jurisdiction of the court (see Chong Thain Vu