48 Segamat voters fail to challenge EC

KUALA LUMPUR: Forty-eight registered voters in the Segamat parliamentary constituency of Johor yesterday failed to obtain leave for judicial review to challenge the entry of 949 names of army personnel and their spouses into the third quarter 2017 Supplementary Electoral Roll.

Judge Datuk Wira Kamaludin Md Said made the ruling in chambers after allowing the respondents’ preliminary objection.

Senior federal counsel Muzila Mohamed Arsad represented the Election Commission (EC), Johor registrar Shafie Taib and Segamat adjudicating officer Miswan Yunus, while Michelle Ng served as counsel for the 48 applicants.

Ng said the judge rejected her clients’ application after concurring with the submission by the Attorney-General’s Chambers that names of voters which had been gazetted into the electoral roll might not be challenged in court as provided for under Section 9A of the Election Act 1958.

The voters, led by Abdul Wahab Hassan, filed the application for leave for judicial review on Feb 26 seeking to remove 949 names from the said electoral roll and a declaration that the respondents’ action was unconstitutional as it did not adhere to Article 119 of the Federal Constitution.

They also claimed that public investigations into the entry of the names found that it breached natural justice and did not follow the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002, and was therefore unreasonable, irrational and unbalanced.