Draw for two council seats delayed due to ongoing Supreme Court case: EC

The President of the Elections Commission (EC), Mohamed Zahid, has announced that the candidate balloting process for the upcoming Local Council and Women's Development Committee elections has been suspended for K. Guraidhoo and K. Thulusdhoo. This decision follows ongoing legal proceedings at the Supreme Court regarding candidacy issues in these two islands.

The drawing of lots for the council elections took place on Thursday, commencing at 10:00 am.

He made these remarks during an interview with RaajjeMV. He stated that the balloting for candidates in those constituencies will proceed as soon as the cases currently before the Supreme Court are resolved. Zahid added that no significant issues have been encountered regarding the balloting for any other constituencies.

"Despite some administrative hurdles, no major issues were encountered. The balloting process commenced simultaneously across all islands in the Maldives and proceeded very smoothly. The only administrative complication involved a discrepancy in the sequencing. In such instances, the initial draw was voided, and the process was successfully restarted and conducted seamlessly," Zahid said.

The Elections Commission (EC) has announced that 36 candidates contesting the local council elections and 31 candidates contesting the Women's Development Committee (WDC) elections have withdrawn their candidacies.

Following the withdrawal of 67 candidates, a total of 2,927 candidates remain in the race for the upcoming election.

The Elections Commission has announced that 294,937 individuals are eligible to vote in the election.

In this election, a total of 626 councilors will be elected to island councils, while 52 will be elected to city councils. Furthermore, an equal number of members are scheduled to be elected to the Women's Development Committees.

The election is scheduled to take place on April 4.