Selangor wants to grill EC over 136,272 voters with dodgy addresses

The Selangor government wants to cross-examine Election Commission chairperson Hashim Abdullah at the Kuala Lumpur High Court over the existence of 136,272 voters in voter registry, who do not possess full addresses.

Lead counsel for the Selangor government Ambiga Sreenavasan said Hashim has to come to court to explain how the EC decides on delimitation of the boundaries without the full address of these voters.

"The numbers are not small and could have a huge effect in the elections as these 136,272 are assigned or can be change to another constituency.

"The presence of these voters has tainted (the voter list) and results in illegality, hence their presence could not be used for the delimitation exercise in the state," she said.

Ambiga added studies have shown that in some constituencies, such as the Sabak Bernam parliamentary seat, the voters who do not have full addresses account for approximately 15,000 or 38.59 percent of total voters.

In some other constituencies, she said such voters may amount to 25 percent. Although the figure might sometimes be less, the significant presence of voters with incomplete addresses still puts the integrity of the voter registry in question.

Documents destroyed

She pointed out that while EC do not have full addresses, it only has the locality of where the voters are located.

The EC's affidavit in reply states that they do not have the full addresses after migrating from a manual system to an electronic system in 2002 and that the documents related to their registration are destroyed.

"This raises more question when they claim they have the addresses but the documents are destroyed. Hence, we must be allowed to cross-examine the EC chairperson," she said.

Besides seeking to cross-examine Hashim, the Selangor government are also seeking a discovery order from the court over the addresses of these voters.

Even Justice Azizul Azmi Adnan, who is presiding the case said he wondered why can't the EC link its system with the National Registration Department to verify its voters, like what the Road Transport Department does with driving license renewal.

Ambiga also pointed to a Parliament Select Committee report in 2012, which documented a voter with two different addresses which allowed the person to vote in two different constituencies.

She also showed the court a reply the EC made to Klang MP Charles Santiago, where the EC claimed it never changed the locality of a person. However, Santiago managed to prove that three voters in his constituency had their locality changed by the EC.

Other lawyers acting for the Selangor government were Derek Fernandez, Latheefa Koya and Shahid Adli Kamarudin.

Cannot question electoral roll

Senior federal counsel Alice Loke who represented Hashim and the EC said it is trite that cross-examination in judicial review cases can be allowed by the court if it pertains to main issue of the judicial review.

Here, the main issue is with regards to the delimitation or the redelineation exercise, not the voters.

Furthermore, she said that at the point of registration, the EC requires an address to determine the locality and what was essential was that the locality is stated in the electoral roll.

"The quarrel with locality or the possibility of locality had been changed cannot be reason for the court to allow a discovery (of document) application or for the court to allow the examination of the relevant officer," she said.

Loke said if the Selangor government wanted to question the electoral roll, this would be in violation of Section 9A of the Election Act, which states that the electoral roll which has been certified under the Act shall not be questioned or set-aside.

"If they are questioning further this is a direct attack on the electoral roll," she said.

Courts' supervisory role

In her reply, Ambiga argued that Section 9A is an ouster clause and there are usual principles that apply where the court could act upon its supervisory role to review it.

She further questioned what the EC has done since 2002 with regards to the 136,232 voters with incomplete voter addresses which was a result of a migration from a manual to a computerised system.

"It has been more than 10 years. What has the EC done (to verify their existence)?," she asked.

Justice Azizul said he would deliver his decision on whether to allow the Selangor government's application on March 9 at 8.30am.

Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali, who was in the public gallery, told reporters later that Selangor is one of the most advance state in the country and that voters with incomplete addresses should not be an issue.

In the judicial review application, Azmin is seeking a declaration that the proposed redelineation, from a 2016 study by the EC, was unconstitutional, inconsistent with Clauses 2(c) and 2(d) of Article 113(2) of the Thirteen Schedule of the Federal Constitution, and was thus null and void.

He is also seeking a declaration that the EC's failure to use the latest electoral roll in the redelineation was unconstitutional, not in accordance with Section 3 of the Thirteen Schedule of the Federal Constitution, and thus, null and void.- Mkini