The Election Commission (EC) will have to postpone its May 18 local inquiry to hear voter objections in relation to the proposed redelineation exercise for both parliamentary and state constituencies in Malacca.

This came after a stay order was granted today by the Malacca High Court to activist Chan Tsu Chong and six others, pending the judicial review application filed by them to challenge the constitutionality of the EC's redelineation proposal.

Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera delivered the decision after hearing submissions from both parties in chambers. He then fixed June 14 for the hearing of the application.

"Today, we got a stay of the (EC's local) inquiry for Malacca only," said Ambiga when contacted.

"At least this has put the redelineation on hold until there is an outcome after the case is properly debated in court," Chan was quoted as saying by New Straits Times.

The other plaintiffs are Neo Lih Xin, 31, Azura Talib, 40, Lim Kah Sheng, 31, Norhizam Hassan Baktee, 51, Amir Khairudin, 53 and Amran Atan, 47. They were represented by lawyers Ambiga Sreenevasan and Caroline Chin.

The seven applicants, who represented the Kota Melaka and Bukit Katil parliamentary seats, had filed an application for a judicial review and stay order against the EC last month. 

They were seeking an order from the court to quash the second redelineation exercise proposal for Malacca. They want the court to issue an instruction for the EC to review the redelineation proposal for the state.

EC, its chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah and secretary Abdul Ghani Salleh were named as respondents. They were represented by Senior Federal Counsel Suzana Atan. 

Second redelineation proposal

On March 8, EC published its second redelineation proposal for Peninsular Malaysia, in which numerous constituency names and compositions across the country were changed.

The proposal had been updated following the conclusion of a four-month local inquiry to hear objections to its initial plan.

Selangor, while included in the first redelineation proposal, was the only state omitted in the second proposal. The state government had filed a similar lawsuit in court and granted a stay on EC's local inquiry from the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.