The High Court in Kuala Lumpur has dismissed the Selangor government's legal challenge against the Election Commission on its constituency redelineation exercise.

The court rejected the four grounds for the review filed by the state government.

Justice Azizul Azmi Adnan, who made no order on costs, ruled that he was bound by the Court of Appeal's decisions in this matter.

However, the judge granted a stay on his decision, which prevents the EC from conducting an inquiry on the grouses of voters in Selangor. 

Senior lawyer Cyrus Das argued that the appeal would be rendered nugatory if the EC is allowed to hold the local inquiry.

Following the conclusion of the local inquiry, Cyrus added, the EC would hand over the report on the redelineation exercise to the prime minister and Parliament.

“By then the matter would be deemed non-justiciable (when it goes to the legislature),” Cyrus said.

Meanwhile, senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh submitted that the EC cannot be stopped from performing its constitutional duties in conducting the redelineation exercise and local inquiries.

Justice Azizul Azmi agreed with Cyrus that once the report is submitted to the prime minister pursuant to Section 8 of the Election Commission Act, the court no longer has jurisdiction.

“The balance of justice lies with the applicant,” he ruled in granting the stay.

Earlier, Justice Azizul stated that the court was bound by two Court of Appeal decisions, and the Selangor government would not be adversely affected by the decisions.

Cyrus argued that the court should allow submissions to be made on the Court of Appeal decisions.

Asked for his comment, Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali said they are disappointed with the court's decision and noted that the EC did not address the issue of gerrymandering and malapportionment in seats.

“As such, we will take this matter up further on appeal at the higher courts,” he said.

Azmin, however, stressed that with the court granting a stay, the status quo has been maintained.

It is understood that there are close to 200 local inquiries which have yet to be conducted in Selangor by the EC, while the other states have completed theirs.