PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission will proceed with its bid to complete its second round of review into the re-delineation exercise in the peninsula.
This was made possible following the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision on July 5 to reject the Selangor government's application to stop the EC from carrying out the tasks within the stipulated time, as stated by the Federal Constitution.
EC chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah said the High Court, however, had granted the Selangor government's application to stop the commission from submitting the final report to the prime minister without including Selangor in it.
The court's decision, he added, would not affect any process relating to the re-delineation exercise as the final report would only be submitted to the prime minister after the local enquiries in Melaka and Selangor have been completed and the judicial review finalised by the court.
"Even if there is no court decision, the EC will not submit the report to the prime minister because the local enquiries have yet to be completed in Melaka and Selangor.
"In this respect, there is no issue of the EC submitting the final report to the PM without including Selangor or any other states, or it not adhering to the court's decision," he said.
Hashim also stressed that claims by certain quarters that they had successfully prevented the EC from executing its responsibilities were inaccurate as the court's decision was only limited to the process of submitting the final report, and not involving the second review of the re-delineation process.
"The EC remains committed to its efforts to uphold the democratic process in this country," he said.
On April 25, the PKR-led Selangor government had applied for a court order to block the EC from carrying out local enquiries for its second round of review of electoral seats in Peninsular Malaysia, until the end of the Selangor government’s court challenge.
The Selangor government had also applied for a court order to block the EC from submitting its final report on its proposed redrawing of electoral boundaries to the prime minister until the end of the case.
According to the EC’s court documents, the first round of local enquiries for all affected states except Selangor were completed from October 31, 2016 to February 28, 2017, with 425 objections heard.
The second round of local enquiries for all affected states were done by the EC during the April 17 and May 24 period, with 109 objections heard, except for Melaka and Selangor, where local enquiries have been halted by the court order.