EC has full authority to reverse own decision: ex-AG Dhiyana

The Elections Commission has the authority to reverse its own decision without intervention from any other state powers, says former attorney general Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed.

Dhiyana, who is also SAARC’s first female secretary-general, said that the Supreme Court must decide on discrepancies between its ongoing case and the commission’s decision, without quashing the latter entirely.

The commission decided on Wednesday that by-elections will not be held for the constituencies represented by 12 lawmakers contentiously dismissed by the commission earlier.

The reinstatement of these dozen lawmakers will give the opposition a clear majority in parliament, while their dismissal was used to throw out a no-confidence motion against parliament speaker Maseeh.

While the Supreme Court quashed the commission’s decision on Wednesday, they have thus far failed to come to a decision on the status of the dismissed lawmakers, who together represent over 60,000 constituents.