Appeals court reject Selangor’s bid to challenge EC’s redelineation

PUTRAJAYA: The Selangor government yesterday failed to challenge the Election Commission’s ( EC) proposed review of the electoral boundaries exercise in the state after the Court of Appeal dismissed its appeal.

The three- man bench comprising Justices Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi, Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil ruled that the notice and the proposed recommendations of the review of the electoral boundaries were not amenable to judicial review of Order 53, Rules of Court 2012.

Justice Ong who read the judgment said the panel agreed with the submissions of Senior Federal Counsel Datuk Amarjeet Singh that the proper forums for the objections of such complaints were at local inquiries pursuant to Section 5 of the Thirteenth Schedule.

“As such, we do not think that acts or omissions of the EC relating to these complaints are amenable to judicial review.

“We also hold that notwithstanding the nondisputed allegations of malapportionment and gerrymandering, by virtue of Section 9A of the Elections Act 1958, the Principal Electoral roll is final and binding and not amenable to judicial review,” said Justice Ong.

Justice Ong said the the panel also agreed with the High Court Judge that it was important to distinguish between the various specific duties of the EC under Part VIII of the Federal Constitution, where the discharge of those duties involved the formulation of proposed recommendations and the exercise of its discretion to take into account the principles pursuant to Section 2 of the Thirteenth Schedule, the actions of the EC were non-justiciable.

On the issue of the electoral roll, he said the panel were in agreement with the High Court Judge’s ruling that pursuant to Section 9A of the Elections Act in relation to the correctness of an electoral roll could not be subjected to any challenge in court even when the roll might not completely record the addresses of all the electors in a unit of review.

“We are also in agreement with the decision of the High Court judge that the information provided by the EC in its proposed recommendations published under Section 4 Notice was not inadequate as to warrant curial intervention,” said Justice Ong.

On whether the appeal was academic, Justice Ong said in view of the foregoing, the panel did not think it was necessary to address the issue.

The Selangor government is appealing against the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Dec 7 last year, which dismissed its (the Selangor government’s) judicial review to challenge the EC’s proposed review exercise in the state.

The Selangor government filed the judicial review on Oct 19 last year, naming the EC, its chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah and secretary Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh as respondents.

In the application, the state government sought a declaration that the proposed review from a 2016 study by the EC, was unconstitutional.

It also sought a declaration that the EC’s failure to use the latest electoral roll in the review of electoral boundaries was unconstitutional.

The Selangor government was represented by Datuk Dr Cyrus Das. — Bernama