The Shah Alam High Court granted Port Klang assemblyperson Badrul Hisham Abdullah an ad interim injunction against the Election Commission (EC).

The injunction is valid until the hearing of Badrul Hisham’s suit against the Selangor state legislative assembly speaker Teng Chang Khim and the EC slotted for Feb 17.

Judge Zaleha Yusof had allowed the order after listening to arguments from both sides for nearly two hours in chambers today.

The EC has to now wait until the disposal of the suit before it can decide on calling for a by-election in the Port Klang state constituency.

The Port Klang seat was declared vacant by Teng on Jan 19.

NONEAccording to Teng, Badrul Hisham (left), the seat’s incumbent, has been absent from the state legislative assembly sitting without leave for more than six months since July 16 last year.

Under the Selangor state constitution, a seat is considered vacant if a member of the House is absent without leave for six months.

Badrul Hisham had filed for an originating summons to declare Teng’s pronouncement null and void, as well as an injunction against the EC from declaring a by-election last month.

He was represented by lawyers Hafarizam Harun and Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin.

Meanwhile, the EC was represented by senior federal counsel Kamaluddin Md Said.

According to Firoz, Judge Zaleha Yusof had given the order on the basis of their argument that the EC is not a government body.

“It has always been an issue whether  injunctions can be granted on the government, and the law in Malaysia is that you can, but in any event we argued that the EC is not part of the government,” said Firoz.

Hafarizam added that, as such, the EC is not governed under Section 29 of the Government Proceedings Act, which states that no permanent injunction can be granted against the government.

“The EC should be an independent body, shouldn’t it?” he stressed.