Seven voters from Kedah, Perak and Johor filed a judicial review application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today seeking a declaration that local inquiries undertaken by the Election Commission for the last three months were null and void.

The voters claimed the inquiries were not done properly as stipulated under Schedule 1 and Article 5 of the Federal Constitution and Section 18 and 19 of the Commissions of Enquiry Act 1950, as they were denied legal representation during the local inquiries.

The affected voters are from the state constituencies in Bukit Selambau (Kedah), Bakar Bata (Kedah), Kuala Sepetang (Perak), Semerah (Johor), and Bukit Batu (Johor), and also involved two parliamentary seats namely Tambun (Perak) and Ledang (Johor).

The voters are Chua Yee Liang, 33, Chai Wee Siong, 31, Hashim Yusof, 63, Zamri Yusof, 51, Muhammad Arafat, 32, Mohd Isa Ahmad, 59 and Dr Chong Fat Full, 56, who named the EC and its chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah as the respondents.

The application was filed by law firm Tetuan Daim Gamany at the High Court registry where PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar was present.

In an affidavit filed by Chua, he said the seven were spokespersons for the respective constituencies where local inquiries were held between Oct 31, and Nov 23, last year.

“In all the local inquiries, the applicants applied to be represented by lawyers but they were denied from doing so,” said Chua.

Chua also referred to Section 19 of the Commissions of Enquiry Act on the regulations to hold local inquiries by the EC where it states that it is like a court proceeding.

He said that following the inquiries are like court proceedings, the right to a lawyer under the common law applies.

“This right (for legal representation) is also enshrined under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution. Hence, the right to legal representation during such local inquiries should be imposed by the EC.

“As Section 18 and 19 applies, the right to legal representation or for us to be legally represented is considered our right and is applicable (to all of us),” he said.

Chua further claimed that any other regulation denying them legal representation is ultra vires (beyond one's legal power) against the Commissions of Enquiry Act.

“As a result of being denied legal representation during local inquiries, the applicants could not effectively make an objection to the EC and this is a violation of natural justice,” he said.