THE Election Commission (EC) is allowed to proceed with conducting local enquiries in Selangor as part of its proposed redelineation exercise, the Court of Appeal ruled today.

The court’s decision overturned the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s ruling to stay the local enquiries process into objections, following a judicial review by the state government against the redelineation.

The state government, however, lost its bid for a judicial review to declare the redelineation unconstitutional at the High Court.

The appellate court’s ruling to set aside the stay today was a 2-1 decision led by justices Idrus Harun and Yaacob Md Sam, while Rhodzariah Bujang dissented, said reports.

The court did not give the grounds for its decision today, and when asked by lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan, who represented the Selangor government, Idrus said he and Yaacob agreed with the EC’s submission.

He allowed the EC’s motion, with no order as to costs.

The High Court stay on the EC’s enquiries process earlier this month had been welcomed by Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali, who said if the stay had not been given, the state’s appeal would become academic and would have no effect on its legal arguments later on.

By granting a stay, the EC would have been unable to complete local enquiries and submit its report to the prime minister. It would then be unable to get the redelineation approved by Parliament.

Malaysiakini reported that the EC’s counsel, Amarjeet Singh, said the High Court’s stay would prevent the EC from performing its constitutionally mandated duty to conduct local inquiries.

The stay, he said, would affect the other rights of voters in Peninsular Malaysia.

Ambiga also told the court that there was no rush to overturn the stay as the EC had until September 14 next year to complete the redelineation exercise, reported Malaysiakini. – December 18, 2017.