THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today threw out a legal challenge by 48 Segamat voters to remove the names of 949 army personnel and their spouses listed as new voters in the constituency.

Justice Kamaludin Md Said, in delivering his decision in chambers, said the new voters’ names have already been gazetted by the Election Commission, and that the matter is now “non-justiciable”.

The EC had earlier filed a stay on the gazetting of voters at the Segamat army camp, which is still under construction.

In dismissing the voters’ application for leave, Kamaludin agreed with the application by the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Section 9A of the Elections Act 1958.

That section stipulates that “after an electoral roll has been certified – or re-certified, as the case may be – and notice of the certification or re-certification has been published in the gazette as prescribed by regulations made under this act, the electoral roll shall be deemed to be final and binding, and shall not be questioned or appealed against in, or reviewed, quashed or set aside by, any court”.

Senior federal counsel Muzila Mohamed Arsad represented the EC, while Michelle Ng was lead counsel for the 48 voters.

No costs were awarded. Ng told reporters that the voters may appeal against the decision.

The EC had intended to gazette the names on the electoral roll in the third quarter of last year.

Last December, the 48 Segamat voters, led by Abdul Wahab Hassan, filed an application to remove the names of the 949 army personnel and their spouses as new voters at the camp, which will be completed only next month.

They sought a court order that the exercise to include the 949 voters is unconstitutional, as the army personnel and their spouses do not reside in the constituency.

In an affidavit in support of their application, the voters said many irregularities were discovered during a public inquiry conducted by the EC from December 4 to 10 last year.

In the 2013 general election, the Segamat parliamentary seat was won by MIC president Dr S. Subramaniam, who defeated PKR’s Dr Chua Jui Meng with a 1,217-vote majority. – March 20, 2018.