Kuala Lumpur: The High Court here has granted a Skudai voter’s bid to question the government’s decision to bar him from voting in the Johor state elections last March because of his Covid-19 quarantine status.
Judge Noorin Badaruddin granted Tamileswaaran Ravi Kumar’s attempt to commence judicial review proceedings against the Election Commission (EC) during a hearing today.
Tamileswaaran, 26, claimed that he was stopped from voting in the March 12 polls by EC officers although he had tested negative for Covid-19 through a self-test.
He said the EC made the wrong decision to bar him from voting because of his Covid-19 quarantine status.
He is seeking a declaration that the EC’s decision violated his constitutional right, and damages.
Earlier this month, electoral reform group Bersih said it had assisted Tamileswaaran in filing the court action.
The group contended that election laws did not grant any power to the EC to deny voters their right to vote on the grounds of an infectious disease, even if they were supposed to be quarantined.
New Sin Yew and Beatrice Chin appeared for Tamileswaaran, while senior federal counsel Al-Saifi Hashim, Nik Ahmad Marzuki Nik Mohamed and Nur Aqitah Abdul Halim appeared for the EC.
