EC appealing bid by Segamat voters to exclude soldiers

The government is appealing a Kuala Lumpur High Court decision allowing a batch of 48 voters from Segamat to formally challenge the Election Commission's move to reject their objection to the inclusion of 949 army personnel and their spouses onto the electoral roll.

This was revealed today by lawyer Jamie Lee who is appearing for the 48 Segamat voters.

Lee said the Attorney-General's Chambers filed the notice of appeal which was dated Jan 10.

“Yes they are appealing to the Court of Appeal,” he said.

Meanwhile, High Court judge Justice Azizah Nawawi today fixed March 1, to hear the substantive hearing or merits of the voters' application.

Senior federal counsel Mazlifah Ayob appeared for the chambers.

It was reported on Jan 8, that the High Court has granted leave to the 48 Segamat voters to proceed with their judicial review challenge on the inclusion of 949 army voters onto the electoral roll for their constituency.

Justice Azizah, who made the ruling in her chambers, also issued a stay on the gazetting of 949 army personnel and their spouses as registered voters.

Her decision came after the court dismissed the preliminary objection to the judicial review application made by the EC and the Attorney-General's Chambers.

The voters are seeking to quash the Election Commission local inquiry’s decision to reject their application to ban the 949 army personnel and their spouses from being registered as voters in the third quarter of the 2017 electoral roll.

The 48 voters, aged between 32 and 74, had filed for a judicial review application on Dec 14, 2017 challenging the registration of army personnel at the new Segamat Army Camp which will only be completed by April 2018.

The local voters had initially filed an objection with the EC at a local inquiry held in December last year but were rejected. Their appeal to the EC was also rejected during a hearing conducted earlier this year.

In their judicial review application, they want the entry of the 949 names into the third quarter electoral roll to be declared unconstitutional besides seeking costs and any other orders deemed fit by the court.

Besides the judicial review filed by the 48 voters comprising mainly DAP and Amanah supporters, there are another six other Segamat voters who have filed a similar challenge on 102 voters from the incomplete army camp for which the EC and AGC have made similar preliminary objections.- Mkini