Anti-Defection ruling: Hearings for MPs Waheed and Saud's case scheduled for Tuesday
Hearing for MP Waheed's case is scheduled for 10:30 am on Tuesday, while the hearing for MP Saud has been scheduled for 1:30 pm
Supreme Court of the Maldives
Supreme Court has scheduled hearings regarding the 'unlawful' disqualification of two lawmakers for Tuesday.
Hearing for Thulusdhoo constituency MP Mohamed Waheed Ibrahim's case is scheduled for 10:30 am on Tuesday, while the hearing for Villingilli constituency MP Saud Hussain has been scheduled for 1:30 pm. Both lawmakers are currently in police custody and will be presented to Court for their respective hearings.
A five-member bench of the Supreme Court, which will hear the cases of the parliamentarians, comprises of Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, Judge Ali Hameed, Judge Abdulla Areef, Judge Adam Mohamed Abdulla and Judge Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi.
Elections Commission (EC) had, back in July, announced that six parliamentarians had been expelled from the parliament, following the Supreme Court's controversial Anti-Defection ruling which states that MPs who switch parties, quit or is expelled after winning on a political party ticket, will lose their seats.
In addition to MPs Waheed and Saud, Elections Commission stated that Dhihdhoo constituency MP Abdul Latheef Mohamed, Maduvvari constituency MP Mohamed Ameeth, Dhan'gethi constituency MP Ilham Ahmed, Mahchangoalhi-South MP Abdulla Sinan are no longer members of the parliament.
Waheed, Ameeth, Saud and Latheef had submitted the cases to the Supreme Court; while Latheef was elected as an independent, it is unclear why the Election Commission had decided that he had lost his seat.
According to the Commission, MPs Waheed, Saud, Ameeth and Latheef had been stripped of their parliamentary seats on July 19, while MPs Ilham and Sinan lost their seats on July 20.
The controversial ruling came after the MPs refused to retract their names from the no-confidence motion submitted against the parliament speaker. 45 MPs had signed the motion.
While a total of 11 MPs for the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) had signed the motion, 10 of them had decided to leave the party; expect for Isdhoo constituency MP Ahmed Rasheed who had, at first, claimed that his signature had been forged.
Both President Abdulla Yameen and PPM's parliamentary group leader Ahmed Nihan have called on the MPs to return to the party.
