Appeals Court removes block on EC
> Order had prevented commission from conducting enquiries for redelineation exercise in Selangor
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has allowed an application by the Election Commission (EC) to set aside a High Court order preventing the EC from conducting local enquiries as part of a redelineation exercise in Selangor.
The three-member bench led by Tan Sri Idrus Harun said the majority decision was taken after it found merits in the application.
Court of Appeal judge Datuk Yaacob Md Sam agreed with the decision while judge Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang gave a dissenting judgment in favour of the Selangor government.
On Dec 7, High Court judge Azizul Azmi Adnan ruled against the state government in its bid to have EC’s redelineation exercise declared unconstitutional.
However, Azizul granted a stay order applied by the Selangor government to prevent the EC from conducting local enquiries. which is part of the redelineation process.
The order prevented the EC from holding local inquiries into the objections raised on the redelineation exercise in Selangor.
The stay order was supposed to be in place until the Selangor government exhausts all forms of appeal for the judicial review against the EC’s redelineation exercise in the state.
The Selangor government had 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.
It wanted the court to quash the EC’s notice and issue an order to direct it to publish a fresh notice on the proposed exercise.
The state government also wanted a declaration that the notice was lacking in details, leading to voters, local authorities or the state government being unable to exercise their constitutional right to file representations.
The challenge was based on claims that the EC acted unconstitutionally in the redelineation exercise by using a defective electoral roll.
Following the failure to obtain the stay order, Selangor state exectuive councillor Elizabeth Wong said the state government will continue its appeal for a judicial review at the Court of Appeal.
Senior federal counsel Datuk Amarjeet Singh acted for the EC, while lawyers Datuk S. Ambiga and Latheefa Koya represented the state government.
During submission, Amarjeet said the stay order granted by the High Court had affected the EC’s tasks to perform its constitutionally mandated duty, with 111 local inquiries in Selangor yet to be held.
He said should the EC proceed with the first round of local inquiries, it would not prevent other parties from filing a judicial review as well.
The EC had commenced its redelineation process in September 2016 and must complete the process by September next year.