Kota Melaka voters try again to quash redelineation report

The Melaka High Court will hear on Tuesday the application by seven voters to obtain leave to challenge the Election Commission.

The redelineation report was gazetted with the consent of the King a day after the Dewan Rakyat passed it on March 28 after a half-day debate.

PETALING JAYA: Seven voters from Melaka have made a renewed attempt to nullify the Election Commission’s (EC) redelineation report passed by Parliament and gazetted last month.

In the judicial review filed on April 7, the Kota Melaka parliamentary constituents claimed that the redelineation exercise violated the Federal Constitution as it created “oversized” parliamentary constituencies, contributing to malapportionment.

They said EC had completed the final report without hearing objections from 107 citizens, representing more than 10,000 registered voters in Selangor, over the recent redelineation exercise in the state.

“It was ‘premature’ to submit the report to Prime Minister (Najib Razak) when the exercise was not completed,” they claimed.

The seven voters sought a court order that the redelineation report is unconstitutional.

The Melaka High Court will hear their bid to obtain leave to challenge EC tomorrow.

The seven — Chan Tsu Chong, Neo Lih Xin, Azura Talib, Lim Kah Seng, Norhizam Hassan Baktee, Amir Khairudin and Amran Atan — had previously challenged EC in April last year over the then proposed redelineation exercise.

However, the Court of Appeal, in allowing EC’s appeal against a lower court order, denied them leave to commence judicial review against EC.

The Federal Court upheld the decision in February.

The report was submitted to Najib on March 9 to be tabled in Parliament.

Dewan Rakyat passed it on March 28 after a half-day debate, with 129 MPs supporting the proposed redrawing of boundaries.

The report was gazetted with the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong the next day.

Kota Melaka was won by DAP veteran Sim Tong Him in the last general election in May 2013. He left DAP last year to become an independent MP. - FMT