PUTRAJAYA, Sept 27 — The Federal Court today rejected the Selangor government’s application for leave to appeal a decision denying it Election Commission (EC) documents on 136,272 dubious voters.
Lawyer Latheefa Koya, who represented the state government, said the court ruled that there was nothing “novel” about the seven questions that were submitted for its consideration.
“We are not happy but we have a long way to go. The main issue of the judicial review on the redelineation exercise is still ongoing.
“At least there we have successfully filed for an injunction to stop the EC from submitting its report to the prime minister, which the Attorney-General’s Chambers is appealing on behalf of the EC on Oct 30 at the High Court,” she told reporters after the hearing.
The panel of Chief Justice Tun Md Raus Sharif, Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, and Tan Sri Aziah Ali were unanimous in their decision today.
The Selangor government’s application for discovery is part of the larger judicial review that it sought against the EC’s proposed redelineation exercise.
In March this year, the High Court granted an order for the EC to produce one of the six types of information sought by the Selangor government in its discovery application for its lawsuit against the commission and to cross-examine its chairman.
The judge only allowed the state government access to the voter address database while denying it five others types of information as well as the cross-examination of EC chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah.
Later in July, the Court of Appeal led by Justice Mohd Zawawi Mohd Salleh ruled in EC’s favour and denied the Selangor government access to the addresses of 136,272 Selangor voters based on the commission’s redelineation exercises in 1994 and 2003.
