SC accepts appeal in Veyvah council election dispute

The Supreme Court has accepted an appeal against a High Court ruling that invalidated three ballot papers in the recent local council election for M. Veyvah, a decision that altered the outcome of the race in favour of the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) candidate.

The disputed ballots were cast for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate, Ahusan Naeem. The ballots were challenged because they contained small ink dots.

Before the ballots were invalidated, the election results stood as follows:

Following a legal challenge, the High Court ruled that the three ballot papers should be rejected. The revised result placed Nazeeh ahead of Ahusan:

Ahusan subsequently appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

According to records of the Supreme Court registry, the appeal has now been accepted for review.

The High Court ruling was issued by a three-judge panel. Judges Mohamed Shaneez Abdulla and Abdulla Rauf Ibrahim formed the majority that decided the three ballots should be invalidated.

Judge Ibrahim Mahir issued a dissenting opinion.

In his dissent, Mahir stated that the marks appeared to be minor ink splatters that occurred while the ballot papers were being marked and could not reasonably be interpreted as deliberate identifiers that would compromise ballot secrecy.

The dispute centres on whether the ink marks constituted identifying marks that would render the ballots invalid under election rules.

The Supreme Court's decision on the appeal could determine the final outcome of the Veyvah council election.

No hearing date has yet been announced.