Living person mistakenly declared dead, loses Voting right

A living person has lost their right and opportunity to vote because they were mistakenly listed as deceased on the voters' list.

The incident which occurred in Kaafu atoll Maafushi happened because two people with the same name was on the voters list. The name of the person who is still alive was removed mistakenly instead of the name of the person who had been declared dead.

Elections Commission Vice Chief Ismail Habeeb said that the commission relies on the registry maintained by the Department of National Registration as their primary source of data. He further said that individuals whose names are not on that registry will not be granted the opportunity to vote.

"We are deeply saddened by this incident. A living person being declared dead, and losing his right to vote is indeed something very sad." said Habeeb.

He said that while the Commission will take measures to prevent such incidents from happening in the future, individual responsibility is also crucial to avoid such occurrences.

In this regard, Habeeb emphasized that everyone is provided with the opportunity to submit complaints when the voters' list is published. He pointed out that the individual in question had not filed any such complaint. Habeeb said that the commission could have ensured that the person was given the opportunity to vote if a complaint had been filed earlier.

"It is important to take individual responsibility and follow procedures." said Habeeb.