KLANG: Kota Raja residents today called on the Election Commission (EC) to carry out its redelineation exercise in Selangor state without further ado.
A resident, Ab Rahman Nordin, 55, described the redelineation exercise as a long overdue move, which was of public importance.
Rahman said the redelineation exercise should have been held in 2011, but was postponed to focus on the 13th General Election, which was held on May 5, 2013.
“The last time a redelineation exercise was done in Selangor was in 2003. The delay of more than 10 years had great impact on the public here,” Rahman told a press conference here today, held to show Kota Raja residents’ solidarity with the EC to conduct the exercise.
Citing Article 113 (2) (ii) of the Federal Constitution, Rahman said redelineation of constituencies should be made at an interval of not less than eight years between the completion of one review and the date of commencement of the next review. It should not exceed 10 years.
He said the delay in redelineation, especially in the urban areas, saw drastic demographic changes over the years.
The areas, he said, saw an increase in population, with some constituencies with more than 100,000 residents.
“How is one elected representative expected to serve more than 100,000 people in an area? This led to them facing difficulties in effectively carrying out their duties. They failed to perform their services and in keeping up with their promises to the public.
“For instance, we still see damaged roads, uncollected garbage, poorly-maintained flats and unkempt places, which have become mosquito breeding grounds, eventually seeing an increase in dengue cases here.
“The EC needs to hasten its process in conducting the redelineation to ensure the elected representatives could fully perform their duties and services to their respective constituents.”
Rahman said Kota Raja voters were of the view that the redelineation in Selangor could lead to efficient administration at the constituencies since the elected representatives would be able to carry out their responsibilities well.
He said if an area has 140,000 voters, it would be unfair to a parliamentarian who has 80,000 voters in his constituency.
The EC, he said, should review the boundaries or create a new constituency to ensure a particular area has no more than 100,000 voters.
During GE13, he said, nine areas had more than 100,000 voters - Gombak (123,290), Selayang (105,895), Hulu Langat (127,347), Serdang (133,139), Subang (128,543), Kapar (144,159), Puchong (107,010), Kelana Jaya (101,236) and Kota Raja (105,909) - and all were located in Selangor.
Kota Raja is a parliamentary constituency comprising the constituencies of Sri Andalas, Sri Muda and Kota Alam Shah.
Meanwhile, another resident, Datuk Amzah Umar, 74, there has to be new boundaries and for the EC to create a new constituency as proposed to reduce the number of voters in a constituency.
“We hope the EC will go ahead with its plan to have Kota Alam Shah as a new constituency. We, however, hope the name will be changed to Sentosa as without the name change, the boundary changes would be confusing to voters.”
He said that in 2013, Sri Andalas had about 58,000 voters and Seri Muda about 51,000. With the new constituency, Sri Andalas would have 41,523 voters, Seri Muda with 38,342 voters and Kota Alam Shah with 41,281 voters.
This, he said, brings the total number of voters to 121,146 compared to about 110,000 voters in two constituencies in 2013.
Amzah said several residents of Kota Raja would soon meet with Selangor Barisan Nasional chairman, Tan Sri Noh Omar to discuss the matter.
The Selangor government had in October 2016 filed a legal case seeking to nullify the EC’s notice of redelineation, claiming it violated the Federal Constitution.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court, in December last year, dismissed the state’s judicial review application to question the EC’s redelineation exercise. However, the judge granted a stay order pending Selangor’s appeal.
The Court of Appeal, however, reversed the stay order. The Selangor government earlier this month filed another legal case to stop the redelineation exercise.
Noh Omar had said Selangor BN will submit its protest against the EC's second notice on its redelineation exercise for the state before Feb 14.