GE14 | The Court of Appeal today unanimously dismissed an application to exclude 949 army voters from the gazetted electoral roll of the Segamat parliamentary constituency.

The three judges led by Idrus Harun ruled that the 48 appellants failed to justify their grounds for a stay of the electoral roll, which was gazetted on Feb 21.

"We unanimously decided that there is no special circumstance showed that would justify the grounds of the stay, given that the appeal had been fixed for hearing on April 24 (four days before the nomination date for the 14th general election).

"We are of the view that the applicants would not be prejudiced under the circumstance," said Idrus in dismissing the matter without cost.

Earlier, lawyer Michelle Ng, who acted for one of the appellants, Segamat voter Abdul Wahab Hassan, said a stay to exclude the 949 voters from the gazetted electoral roll should be granted as this would greatly prejudice the appellants.

Meanwhile, senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan said the basis for a stay application by the 48 voters has no merits. 

"Under Section 9A of the Election Act 1954, the supplementary electoral roll shall be deemed to be final and shall not be questioned or appealed against," he said. 

The 48 voters had filed a new application on Feb 26 on grounds that the construction of the camp was incomplete, and the army personnel should therefore not be gazetted as voters.

On March 20, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur declined to grant leave for the 48 voters to challenge the entry of 949 voters as stated in the fourth quarter of the 2017 electoral roll.

The Election Commission, Johor registrar Shafie Taib and Segamat adjudicating officer Miswan Yunus were named as respondents.