BN pushing for quick passage of redrawn electoral boundaries?

KUALA LUMPUR: Klang MP Charles Santiago has voiced a suspicion that Barisan Nasional will use the current parliament session to push for passage of the latest re-delineation of electoral boundaries.

To enable this, he speculated, the government would tell the Election Commission (EC) to quickly settle petitions of objection against the new delineation.

Putrajaya might also use its alleged influence with the judiciary to ensure the speeding up of pending court cases against the EC, he added.

Santiago was reacting to news about last Monday’s launching of BN’s operations room for the Sungai Buloh parliamentary constituency (P107), which exists only in the proposed re-delineation of boundaries.

He described the launching, done by Selangor BN chairman Noh Omar, as an indication that a “very serious process” had begun, adding that he wouldn’t be surprised if BN were to go on opening operations rooms for constituencies that were yet to exist.

“I think Noh Omar has to explain what he was doing, opening an ops room in Sungai Buloh when the parliamentary seat does not exist yet,” he said. “He needs to be transparent about it.

“But I think the point to note is that BN is going to push for the re-delineation to be passed, which means that all the cases that are pending, including Selangor’s case against EC, will come to a stop in a very short time.”

Last Tuesday, High Court judge Azizul Azmi Adnan fixed Dec 7 as the date on which he would announce his decision on an application by the Selangor government to declare the EC’s re-delineation of constituencies in the state as unconstitutional and invalid.

The application was filed on Oct 19 last year. -FMT