KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — The Election Commission (EC) should not carry out local inquiries for its second round of redelineation of electoral boundaries pending court challenges of the exercise, Bersih 2.0 said today.

Bersih 2.0 said that EC should refrain from carrying out local inquiries for the planned redelineation exercise in not just Selangor and Melaka, but also Perak, Johor, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan.

The electoral watchdog pointed out that the injunction granted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court last week prohibited the EC from completing the redelineation process without Selangor, highlighting also that stay orders have been granted against local inquiries in Selangor and Melaka.

"The EC should not have continued with the second notice and inquiries because serious constitutional issues have been raised, and should have instead waited for the resolution of these cases before proceeding,” the Bersih 2.0 steering committee said in a statement.

"Bersih 2.0 reiterates that we are not against the redelineation process. However, it must be done fairly and correctly in accordance with the principles of law and the Federal Constitution.

"In contrast, the EC has severely broken these principles and are taking unprecedented action to circumvent the due process. The EC has not used the current redelineation process to correct malapportionment and gerrymandering, but instead has taken steps to worsen it,” they added.

National newswire Bernama quoted EC chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah as saying last Friday that the commission would continue with local inquiries in all states in the peninsula except for Selangor and Melaka.

He claimed that the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision did not allow the Selangor state government’s application to stop the EC from proceeding with the second round of local inquiries in the peninsula.

On July 5, the High Court here granted the Selangor government an order prohibiting the EC from submitting its report on the redrawing of electoral constituencies to the prime minister, pending the end of the state government’s court challenge.