Court gives Selangor gov't until Monday to file affidavit on EC stay

The Selangor government has succeeded in buying more time in its bid to torpedo the Election Commission's (EC) redelineation exercise.

The Court of Appeal today adjourned a hearing on the EC's application to set aside a stay barring it from holding local enquiries to Monday.

"This is to allow the Selangor government to file an affidavit in reply to the EC," counsel Ambiga Sreenevasan said.

The stay bars the EC from holding local enquiries on its redelineation exercise pending an appeal by the state government.

The stay was granted by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. Last week, it had also dismissed the Selangor government's challenge against the redelineation exercise.

The state government is challenging the exercise on four grounds: gerrymandering and malapportionment of seats; the presence of 136,272 dubious voters; the lack of information in the notice given by the EC; and the failure of the delimitation exercise to use the latest electoral roll.

At present, the report by the EC cannot be handed to the prime minister, as the EC must have all peninsular states in its submission, including Selangor.- Mkini