KUALA LUMPUR: The Election Commission (EC) today raised a preliminary objection against another case filed by six Segamat voters to remove the entry of 102 army men as voters in the parliamentary constituency.

Lawyer N Surendran, representing the six voters, said the EC had objected to their bid to obtain leave for judicial review from the High Court on the grounds that the Segamat voters should have appealed to the EC’s adjudicating officer.

“However, we said the proper mode should be a judicial review to quash the army voters’ entry,” he said, adding that the six men had not filed their appeals to the adjudicating officer as they took the position to come to court.

Surendran said the EC’s decision to include the army men as Segamat voters was against the law.

“They do not comply with Article 119 of the Federal Constitution to be qualified as voters, and they do not stay in the area,” he added.

High Court judge Justice Kamaludin Md Said fixed Jan 23 to hear the EC’s objection against the voters’ leave to get court leave.

The six voters, led by Abu Bakar Ibrahim, are seeking to remove the entry of the 102 army men from the Segamat electoral roll.

The voters also want a court declaration that the army voters’ entry to the Segamat parliamentary constituency is unconstitutional.

They want to freeze the army voters’ entry in the Segamat electoral roll pending the disposal of the court case.

The voters named the EC and its Johor registrar Shafie Taib as respondents in the judicial review.

Another 48 Segamat voters had previously sought to remove 949 army men and their family members as voters residing in an incomplete army camp there.

The voters, led by Abdul Wahab Hassan, were given the nod by another High Court yesterday to challenge the EC’s decision to include the 949 voters.

The court also granted a stay against the EC putting the names of the army voters and their family members in the Segamat electoral roll pending the disposal of the case.

DAP had previously questioned the move to transfer the army men, asking if this was done to “save” the parliamentary seat from falling to the opposition in the 14th general election.

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.

Court allows challenge against 949 army voters in Segamat

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