Senior counsel Cyrus Das today warned that leave (permission) to appeal should be granted in the Sarawak re-delineation case at the Federal Court as it involves constitutional issues affecting voters and future exercises which would be conducted in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia soon.

He said it involves voters' rights, with regard to being properly informed through a notice from the Election Commission that in the coming state elections, they may vote in another constituency and polling centre.

Das cited the experience faced by his client Bukit Lintang assemblyperson See Chee How who had to buy the electoral roll for RM4,500 and noticed that the EC had moved 6,500 voters out of his constituency.

"That information (electoral roll) should be available to the electorate at the bare minimum requirement when the notice is issued under Section 4a of the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

"This is one of six conditions cited in the schedule which the High Court judge said is part of the minimum requirement and she (the judge) recognised. How would a registered voter be able to recognise this if the notice is not proper?" he asked

Das, who is representing See (photo) and also Pauls Baya, said the points related to Article 113 and Section 4a and 5 of the 13 th schedule of the Federal Constitution, have not been decided before in the history of this country.

"The court cannot allow the Court of Appeal judgment last month to stand without this being ventilated by the apex court as this involves constitutional questions of law and as mentioned, will have an impact on voters in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia," he said.

The three-member bench led by Court of Appeal president Justice Md Raus Sharif then decided to deliver its decision on Thursday.

Following this, the senior lawyer submitted 15 questions of law which were novel and off public interest to be decided by the apex court should leave (permission to appeal) be granted.

Batu Lintang moved out

Co-counsel and former Bersih 2.0 chairperson, Ambiga Sreenevasan, submitted that for See, it involved the movement of his Batu Lintang state seat from Stampin to the Kuching parliamentary seat and that this was illegal as it had to get Parliament's nod.

“People in his electorate may not be aware and other state constituencies involved with the re-delineation would also be affected seeing a possible move of voters and also state and parliamentary constituencies without being given prior notice,” she said.

Ambiga said, furthermore, the voter could only file an objection within 30 minutes and this violated the voters' rights as they had to do this without legal representation.

The three-member bench led by Court of Appeal president Justice Mohd Raus Sharif ( photo) then decided to deliver its decision on Thursday.

The other Federal Court judges are Justice Ahmad Maarop and Justice Abu Samah Nordin.

The Sarawak re-delineation exercise will see an additional 11 seats to a total of 82 state seats from the present 71. The state now has 1.1 million voters and Das and Ambiga argued that more than 66,500 voters could have been transferred out from their existing constituencies without their knowledge.

The Sarawak elections will have to be called by the middle of next year and the 11 additional seats are seen vital for new Chief Minister Adenan Satem to obtain his own mandate after inheriting it from Abdul Taib Mahmud.

It was reported earlier this year that the Kuching High Court had found the notice issued by the EC as defective and had declared it null and void . The court also asked EC to re-issue a proper notice to the affected voters.

However, the Court of Appeal had on August 7 overturned the High Court's decision and declared the notice issued by EC as sufficient resulting in the current appeal.

To compound matters, the EC had on Aug 21 submitted the re-delineation report to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for it to be tabled in Parliament.

'It's academic', says government's lawyer

Senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh representing the EC claimed the matter was already academic as the report was now with the prime minister.

“It is not within the realm of the courts to intervene in this matter as it is now at the exclusive jurisdiction of the PM to be tabled in the house of representatives (Dewan Rakyat). The court cannot encroach as it is up to Parliament to pass it.”

“The EC's task is finished with the re-delineation exercise and cannot be subject to such court orders,” he added.

Amarjeet said EC had completed its functions when the re-delineation exercise was gazetted and it was now out of its (EC's) hands.

It is the duty of Parliament, he said, to accept or withdraw it as the jurisdiction was now with the house to decide.

“Even if this court grants leave and appeal, it cannot ask the EC to re-publish the notice as the report had been approved. We already told the High Court in May that the EC is in the process of submitting the report but the judge there did not consider this,” said Amarjeet.

“The Federal Court cannot interfere with proceedings done in Parliament (to approve the additional seats),” he further claimed.

He added the information needed is available but it is up to voters to find it as the electoral rolls are being displayed at the various polling centres for them to view.

Das, however, countered that the courts still have jurisdiction as the matter has yet to reach Parliament and even if it is gazetted, there will be slight modifications which the EC would have to call in.

Hence, he said, to say that the EC was finished with its task after the tabling of the report was wrong.

For the re-delineation exercise, Parliament would have to approve it by a majority of 112 votes for it to pass through.

The next Parliament session begins this Monday and this highlights the importance of this case.