Appeals court to deliver verdict on Selangor's redelineation challenge on Thursday

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal will deliver its verdict on the Selangor government's appeal over its legal challenge against the Election Commission's (EC) redelineation exercise in the state, on Thursday.
The three-man bench comprising Justices Datuk Ahmadi Ahmad, Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil deferred their decision to March 29 after hearing submissions from Selangor government's lawyers Datuk Dr Cyrus Das, Datuk S. Ambiga and Derek Fernandez and senior federal counsel Datuk Amarjeet Singh for the EC and two others.
Ahmadi said they were unable to give their decision today as they needed time to go through the submissions.
The Selangor government is appealing against the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Dec 7 last year, which dismissed its (the Selangor government's) judicial review to challenge the EC's proposed redelineation exercise in the state.
The Selangor government filed the judicial review on Oct 19 last year, naming the EC, its chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah and secretary Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh as respondents.
In the application, the state government sought a declaration that the proposed redelineation from a 2016 study by the EC, was unconstitutional.
It also sought a declaration that the EC's failure to use the latest electoral roll in the redelineation was unconstitutional.
In the court proceeding today, Amarjeet submitted that the Selangor government's appeal was rendered academic because the EC's report on its proposed recommendations on the redelineation had been submitted to the Prime Minister on March 9.
He said the next step was for the Prime Minister to lay the report before the House of Representatives as prescribed under the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
"The EC is no longer an affected party at this stage. The matter is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Prime Minister and the House of Representatives," he said, adding that any outcome on the appeal would have no impact on the EC.
Amarjeet said the courts had no jurisdiction once the report was submitted to the Prime Minister to be laid before the House of Representatives.
Earlier, Das argued that there were legal questions which were open for the court to determine on whether the EC had complied with the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution and Article 113 of the Federal Constitution.
He said the EC recommendations on the proposed redelineation exercise was open to judicial review and subjected to judicial process.
He also said the report contained recommendations made by the EC and it was those recommendations that the Selangor government was challenging.
Das said it was not an acceptable argument to say the Selangor government's appeal was academic, adding that laying the report before Parliament did not remove the court's power.
Meanwhile, outside the court, Ambiga told reporters that if the report is tabled in Parliament tomorrow, the appeal is not academic. — Bernama