The Court of Appeal today threw out the Selangor government’s bid to prevent the Election Commission (EC) from handing the report on its state re-delineation exercise to the prime minister.
Selangor had sought the application pending the decision of a related appeal by the state, which is set to be heard before the Court of Appeal on March 23.
“We’re only asking for a stay, that’s all. We’re just saying wait until March 23 and see what the decision is. Will it be for or against?
“If it is for us, then, of course, you cannot proceed. If it is against us, then, of course, you can proceed,” Selangor government’s counsel Gurdial Singh Nijar told reporters after the decision was delivered today.
With this decision, he said, the EC can now present its report on the redelineation exercise to the prime minister for tabling and eventual approval by the Dewan Rakyat.
The next Parliament session begins on Monday next week.
“But if the decision says it is for us, then how? Then we all have to go down on our knees and pray because then you don’t know what to do,” Gurdial (photo) said.
Gurdial had earlier requested for two of the judges from the three-member panel to recuse themselves from this hearing as they had previously heard a similar case.
However, the judges dismissed this request as well and Justices Idrus Harun and Kamardin Hashim remained on the bench.
In December last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur had dismissed the Selangor government's judicial review application to challenge the EC’s redelineation notice.
High Court judge Azizul Azmi Adnan dismissed the application mainly due to a binding Court of Appeal ruling.
However, Justice Azizul granted a stay on the EC conducting local inquiries in Selangor.
The stay was later overturned by the Court of Appeal and the EC has since been conducting local inquiries into objections to the redelineation exercise in the state. -Mkini
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