The voters’ lawyer Joanna Chua said High Court judge Justice Azizah Nawawi granted leave in chambers for their judicial review application, to question EC’s decision on the grounds that there were special circumstances.

“The judge found that under the Regulation which states the decision of the adjucating officer cannot be reviewed is actually an ‘ouster clause’,” she said referring to the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulation.

Chua said Justice Azizah had also granted a stay against the EC putting the army voters and their family members’ names in the Segamat electoral roll pending the disposal of the case.

The court fixed Jan 16 for case management.

Also present in court were both DAP’s Mengkibol assemblyman Tan Hong Pin and Jementah assemblyman Tan Chen Choon. Both Johor state seats come under the Segamat parliamentary constituency.

Hong Pin said this is not about denying the army personnel and their families the right to vote but just to ensure that the proper procedures are followed.

Last week, the EC objected to the voters’ bid to obtain leave for the judicial review on the grounds that the voters should have exhausted all efforts under Regulation 20 of the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulation before coming to court.

The Segamat voters, lead by Abdul Wahab Hassan, sought to quash the names of 949 army men and their spouses as new voters in a yet-to-be completed army camp.

They applied for a court order that the exercise to include the army voters was unconstitutional, as the army personnel and their families were not residing in the constituency.

In an affidavit in support of their application, the voters claimed the entry of names on the Segamat electoral rolls was illegal as it ran foul of Article 119 of the Federal Constitution.

They said many irregularities were discovered during a public inquiry when the EC conducted an open hearing between Dec 4 and 10 last year. The registrar, however, dismissed their complaints after the inquiry.

DAP had previously questioned the move to transfer the army men and whether they were done to “save” the parliamentary seat from falling into the opposition’s hands in GE14.

In the 2013 general election, MIC president Dr S Subramaniam won the Segamat seat after defeating PKR’s Dr Chua Jui Meng with a 1,217 majority.

EC challenges bid to remove ‘army camp voters’ through courts

Voters go to court over addition of 949 soldiers, spouses, in Segamat seat