Following Supreme Court's decision to annul the September 23 election, Elections Commissioner Ahmed Shareef has thanked its staff and all that stood up with the people's decision.

Shareef on Sunday took to twitter minutes after the court verdict, and expressed appreciation for the Commission's legal team.

"Thanks a lot to all staff of EC and to all who stood up with the people's decision", he added to the tweet.

The Elections Commission also congratulated its legal team, adding that it is 'overwhelmed by [their] hardwork'.

While the outgoing President Abdulla Yameen had earlier this month filed the case at Supreme Court, all five justices had voted against annulling the election, having declared that there are no legal grounds to annul the September polls.

The first hearing in the case was held on October 14, with back-to-back hearings held till Tuesday. At the last hearing. the bench of judges decided not to hear the secret witnesses submitted by Yameen's legal team, and had instead heard the closing statements from all sides.

Speaking to media outside the court after the conclusion of the verdict hearing, EC’s legal team stated that they praise the patience and resilience of commission members and staff.

“We will always remain within the legal ambit, and we will remain resilient” said the legal team.

While Shareef remained a close ally of President Yameen, having been appointed to the commission board by the President himself, following the announcement of the final result, President Yameen, as well as his supporters have been heavily slamming Shareef for alleged vote rigging.

Yameen lost his bid for reelection after receiving just 96,052 votes while his opponent, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih received 134,705 votes. While he had initially conceded defeat, he said that the reason for filing the case was 'due to the thousands of complaints received regarding the voting process'.