Another BN man raises objection at S’gor EC inquiry

A day after two BN reps raised objections at the Election Commission's local inquiries on its proposed electoral boundaries, MCA branch leader BL Yong today raised his own against the move to carve two new parliamentary seats - P106 Damansara and P107 Sungai Buloh - from the existing Subang and Petaling Jaya Utara seats.

When met on the second day of EC's public inquiry in Shah Alam, Yong said his objections were raised on grounds that there would be a big difference in the number of voters between the two proposed constituencies.

"Our objection is mainly based on the malapportionment between these two constituencies.

"The first is 150,000 plus voters for Petaling Jaya Utara, now to be renamed as Damansara.

“Whereas for Subang, which under the proposal would be changed to Sungai Buloh, its number of voters only amounts to 70,000 odd," he told reporters.

Yong pointed out that the ratio of voters in both constituencies would be 2.05 to one, claiming that this is higher than the “approximately equal” recommendation in the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

"So to us 2.05 to 1 the difference is big.

"Our objection is to have the EC actually do something about this, to make sure the number of voters in these two districts is more or less the same, or not very much different," he explained.

The MCA man said he had asked for the Bukit Lanjan state seat to be retained under the existing Subang parliament seat, instead of the proposed move to the new Damansara seat.

At present, Subang comprises three state seats - Bukit Lanjan, Kota Damansara and Paya Jaras - the latter two of which would be moved to the new Sungai Buloh parliament seat under the proposed redelineation.

"Our proposal is to bring back Bukit Lanjan to P107.

"With that the difference, the gap would be very close, and in line with principle in the constitution that the muber of voters of these two constituencies are almost the same," he said.

Yong was the first of 13 voters from Subang, Gombak, and Tanjung Karang who were scheduled to raise their objections today.

As of around noon, Malaysiakini understands, however, that the remaining voters may not be present before the panel, comprising all seven of the EC’s commissioners.

The ongoing redelineation exercise has been marred by allegations of malapportionment and gerrymandering, and formal objections were filed by voters.

The EC is required to hold inquiries to consider these objections under Part II of the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

Should the EC decide that changes to its proposals are necessary, it would be required to display the new proposal and allow objections to be filed for 30 days, and then hold the second and last round of local enquiries on those objections.

Otherwise, it may submit its proposal to the prime minister, who is to table it in Parliament for approval by a simple majority.

If approved, the recommendations would then be passed to be Yang di-Pertuan Agong in the form of a draft order to be issued, and hence becomes law.

Otherwise, the prime minister may make changes to the proposal in consultation with the EC, and then table it in the Dewan Rakyat again.

The EC public inquiry for Selangor had started yesterday and scheduled to go on until Jan 8.- Mkini