EC wins appeal to set aside leave for judicial review granted to 28 Segamat voters

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today overturned a High Court's decision which granted leave to 48 Segamat Parliamentary voters to commence their judicial review challenge on the inclusion of the names of 949 army personnel and their spouses as voters in the constituency.
A three-man bench comprising Justices Tan Sri Idrus Harun, Puan Sri Zaleha Yusof and Datuk Kamardin Hashim allowed the appeal by the Election Commission (EC) and the Johor voter registrar Shafie Taib to set aside the High Court's decision.
"This is our unanimous decision. Having considered the submission of counsel of the respective party and having perused the appeal record, we are satisfied that there are merits in the appeal," said Idrus who chaired the bench.
In their application, the voters, led by Abdul Wahab Hassan, sought a certiorari order to quash the names of 949 army personnel and their spouses as voters who they claimed were residing at an uncompleted army camp in the constituency.
The EC had issued a gazette on Oct 23 last year, stating that the names of 949 army men and their spouses would be admitted into the 2017 Third Quarter Supplementary Electoral Roll as voters for the Segamat constituency and they would cast their votes in the Segamat Camp locality.
The voters raised objections pursuant to Regulation 15 of the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002 for the inclusion of the names of the army personnel as voters and the Johor Registrar of Electors held public inquiries from Dec 4 until Dec 10 last year.
On Dec 12, the Registrar of Electors dismissed the voters' objections and they (the voters) filed appeals to the adjudicating authority.
The reliefs sought by the voters include a declaration that the entering of the names of the army personnel into the 2017 Third Quarter Supplementary Electoral Roll was unconstitutional.
In today's court proceedings, senior federal counsel Suzana Atan argued that the voters had filed the leave for judicial review prematurely as they had yet to exercise the alternative remedy of appeal which was opened to them under the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002.
She said at the time the voters filed their application for leave to commence judicial review proceedings, their appeals to the adjudicating authority were pending hearing.
Lawyer Michelle Ng representing the voters said it goes against the tenet of the Federal Constitution for the army personnel to use their working address to register as voters.
After the court's decision, the voters' lead counsel told reporters that he would seek instruction from his clients whether to bring the matter to the Federal Court or file a fresh leave for judicial review.
Earlier, the same appellate court three-member bench dismissed the Penang Government's appeal against a High Court's refusal to grant it leave to commence a judicial review against the EC's recommendations for redelineation of electoral boundaries.
In his decision, Idrus said the court was satisfied that the High Court judge did not err in her decision, adding that the court found no merits in the appeal.
On Nov 20, last year, the Penang High Court dismissed the state government's application for leave to commence the judicial review.
In the application, the Penang state government claimed that the EC published a notice as required by Section 4 of the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution on Sept 15, 2016, to commence the 2016 re-delineation process and the EC subsequently published the second notice under Section 7 of the Thirteenth Schedule.
The state government was seeking, among others, a declaration that the proposed recommendations were unconstitutional as the recommendations did not comply with section 2(c) and 2 (d) of the Thirteen Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
It also sought an order to declare that the electoral roll for the delimitation exercise was not the current electoral roll and for an certiorari order to quash the second notice dated March 8 last year, the proposed recommendations and the draft plan.
Lawyers Leong Cheok Keng and Chan Kok Keong represented the Penang Government while senior federal counsel Datuk Amarjeet Singh appeared for the EC. — Bernama