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ozens of Democratic Party politicians who lost in the April 9 legislative election have taken measures to force their way into the House of Representatives (DPR) and other legislative bodies, including by ejecting from the party rival politicians who actually won their votes.

At least 115 politicians in the party led by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had filed complaints with the party's internal tribunal to annul the victories of their colleagues who won legislative seats in their electoral districts, the tribunal's chairman, Amir Syamsuddin, said on Tuesday.

Of that number, about 30 were legislative candidates who failed to get enough votes to win seats in the House, Amir said. The remainder were candidates vying for seats on provincial and local legislative councils.

'About eight complaints were filed by legislative candidates for the DPR and have been approved by the tribunal,' Amir said.

As a result of the decision to approve the complaints, the targeted lawmakers have been sacked from their current House positions and stripped of their party memberships.

The petitioners, who were Democratic Party legislative candidates who all came in second in their respective electoral districts, accused their fellow members of engaging in vote-rigging.

Former youth and sports minister Roy Suryo Notodiprojo, for example, filed a petition with the tribunal against Ambar Tjahyono from the Yogyakarta electoral district.

Roy had already unsuccessfully challenged Ambar's victory at the Constitutional Court.

'Evidence of his wrongdoings, such as vote rigging, were presented during the party's tribunal hearings. Ambar has clearly violated our party's code of conduct,' Roy said.

Roy, who is also one of the tribunal's members, maintained that there was no conflict of interest involved in the adjudication of his case.

Ambar, meanwhile, said he was optimistic that Yudhoyono, the party's chairman, would not dismiss him from the party despite the tribunal's ruling.

'I am still an active party executive and active House member,' he said at the House compound on Tuesday.

He called Roy 'childish' for making the move and said that his petition was 'unethical'.

Like Roy, many other Democratic Party politicians who filed petitions to the tribunal were known to have links to Yudhoyono's inner circle.

Didi Irawadi Syamsuddin, Amir's son, was one of them. He filed a petition to the tribunal against lawmaker Amin Santono that was granted by the council. One of the party's deputy chairmen, Jhonny Allen Marbun, also had his suit against Rooslynda Marpaung approved.

Lawmaker Nasyit Umar, meanwhile, was dismissed by the tribunal after being challenged by losing candidate M. Jafar Hafsah, the former Democratic Party faction head in the House. Winning candidate Rudi H. Bangun was fired after losing candidate Hinca Panjaitan, a noted lawyer who was also a party executive, challenged his election.

Analysts said the use of the internal party mechanism to change the election results could be seen as a betrayal of the people's votes.

General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah said that the election organizer was the only institution that had the final say on whether Roy, as well as other politicians in similar situations, could return to the House.

'A recall mechanism could only be made by a political party chairman submitting the request to the House speakers. The replacement is then submitted from the House to the KPU,' he told The Jakarta Post.