TWO DAP MPs from Perak lost their appeal in the Court of Appeal yesterday against a High Court decision disallowing their leave to commence a judicial review application over proposed recommendations for an electoral redelineation exercise in their constituencies.

Justice Mohd Zawawi Salleh, leading a three-man bench, in a unanimous decision dismissed the appeal brought by Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran and Ipoh Timur MP Thomas Su Keong Siong.

“We are of the opinion that the process of redelineation is not amenable to judicial review,” said Zawawi, who presided with justices Abdul Rahman Sebli and Kamardin Hashim.

He upheld the decision of the High Court, which denied leave to both MPs to commence a judicial review application seeking to quash the second proposed recommendations of the Election Commission (EC) for an electoral redelineation exercise.

Justice Che Ruzima Ghazali of the Ipoh High Court had, in May, refused to grant leave to initiate the judicial review application on the two constituencies, ruling that the application was frivolous and vexatious.

Lawyer A. Surendra Ananth, who represented the two MPs, submitted that the court could hear his clients’ judicial review.

He said the EC had a duty to give reasons for its decision to redraw electoral boundaries.

Senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh argued that the matter was not amenable to judicial review because the EC’s was not a final decision and did not provide legal effect.

He said the final decision of the EC proposal was vested in Parliament, adding that the proposal was advisory in nature and it was up to Parliament whether to accept the report.

Outside the court, the two MPs told reporters that the court’s decision meant that the redelineation exercise was not subject to a judicial review.

Kulasegaran said they would discuss whether to raise the matter in the Federal Court. – Bernama, August 15, 2017.