This follows the Court of Appeal ruling today to allow their appeal for the High Court to hear their leave for judicial review application filed last year.
On Jan 25 this year, High Court judge Azizul Azmi Adnan allowed the EC’s preliminary objection on grounds that the judicial review was filed out of time.
“The 90-day limitation period starts from Aug 3 last year. Therefore, the appeal is allowed,” judge Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said over the unanimous ruling made by the three-man bench which she chaired.
The judges then ordered the case to be mentioned before a High Court registrar on July 11.
Today, lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, appearing for P Maradeveran, Zahar Rusuli and Yong Chan Hee, submitted that his clients made a complaint to the EC for illegally moving them to another polling district by altering the boundaries.
He said under Section 7 (2) of the Election Act 1958, the EC was not empowered to change the constituencies of voters but only the polling district within a constituency.
“The EC has acted ultra vires the law in altering the constituency and moving voters to another polling district,” he said.
Gobind said Maradeveran, Zahar, and other voters in the Batang Kali seat, were moved to the Kuala Kubu Baru seat but wrote to the EC last July to find out the reason for the transfer.
The EC wrote a letter dated Aug 3, stating that no voters were moved but it had only conducted a locality correction exercise.
Gobind said the 90-day period to file judicial review against the EC should begin from Aug 3, the day his clients were officially told about relocating them to another polling district.
In Yong’s case, he said the EC communicated to him on September 14.
The three filed their judicial review on Oct 21, well within the 90-day limitation period, he said.
Gobind further said the courts could not be ousted from hearing a dispute when the EC’s action under Section 7(2) was illegal and unlawful.
“The High Court was right to rule that an ouster clause could only be relied on if the EC has conducted the exercise (moving of voters) legally,” he said.
Government lawyer Amarjeet Singh said the appeal should be dismissed as the limitation period started from April 29, last year when the electoral rolls were gazetted.
Amarjeet said the court had no jurisdiction to hear under Section 9A of the Election Act once it had been determined the judicial review was filed out of time.
The three had filed for the leave application, among others, seeking an order of certiorari to quash the EC’s decision in altering the constituency of registered voters.
They also want an order to quash the EC’s decision in altering the constituency of registered voters from Batang Kali to Kuala Kubu Baru and vice versa.