The Selangor government was granted leave today on its application for a judicial review against the notice and recommendations of a proposed redelineation exercise by the Election Commission (EC).

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur also granted a stay on all local inquiries by the EC on both federal and state seats in the state of Selangor.

The stay will be in effect until the full trial goes to court on Jan 20 next year.

“Essentially, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) didn’t raise any objections so that (the leave) was granted,” counsel for the Selangor government, Ambiga Sreenevasan, told reporters outside the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today.

Judicial commissioner Azizul Azmi Adnan granted the Selangor government a stay on inquiries within Selangor only, as he said the state had a right to object in this case.

Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali said he was very happy on behalf of the state over the decision today.

"This is an important decision for our country, as the court has accepted the fact that state governments have a right to represent their people to ensure a clean and fair election in the future," Azmin said. 

Previously, the Selangor government had been granted an interim stay to stop the EC from holding local inquiries in Selangor.

It had filed the judicial review to challenge the EC's proposed redelineation exercise on Oct 19.

It wants the court to declare as null and void the EC's Sept 15 redelineation notice, its recommendations, the electoral rolls used in the redelineation exercise and the draft constituency plan for Selangor.

The state government also wants to compel the EC to publish a new notice with new recommendations that “truly” follow the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.