A Pandan voter will know on Oct 28 whether he gets leave to proceed in his legal challenge against the holding of the 15th general elections (GE15) during the flood-prone monsoon season late this year.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning set the decision date on the judicial review leave application by lawyer Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar.
Judge Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid fixed the date after having heard oral submissions from legal representatives.
Former federal court judge Gopal Sri Ram represented applicant Syed Iskandar.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan appeared for the three respondents in the matter, namely Ismail Sabri Yaakob (in his capacity as caretaker premier), the Election Commission (EC) chairperson (who is not named), and the government of Malaysia.
Through his legal action filed on Oct 14, Syed Iskandar claimed that Ismail Sabri failed to take into account the welfare of less privileged Malaysians when he requested for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve Parliament.
According to a copy of his affidavit, the 55-year-old voter contended that Ismail Sabri has a duty to act reasonably in the interest of citizens and voters when meeting the Agong on Oct 9 to exercise his (Ismail Sabri) powers to request the dissolution of Parliament (the dissolution was announced the next day).
Syed Iskandar claimed that the caretaker premier abused this power as “he failed to take into account the interests and welfare of the poorer segment of Malaysian society who will be affected by the monsoon, of which the first respondent is and was at all material times fully aware”.
Earlier on Tuesday last week, incumbent Klang MP Charles Santiago had filed a separate court challenge against GE15 being held this year, which also cited the flood risk.
The EC today is in a meeting to decide the dates for nomination and polling days for GE15. - Mkini
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