The Supreme Court has voided the High Court's ruling that spotted ballot papers from the recent Local Council Election's M. Veyvah election were invalid.
The issue was brought forward by Mohamed Nazeeh, who contested for the Veyvah Council for the seat of Council President on a PNC ticket, in a case filed against the Elections Commission (EC). He submitted the case to the High Court after three vote papers, which were considered invalid, were later determined to be valid. That determination had been made after the vote box was reopened and re-examined.
The lawyer for the Elections Commission stated that the marks on those three papers were not dots placed by the person who went to vote, but were dots that occurred during printing, and that the votes should not be voided. In the election, MDP candidate Ahusham had secured victory over Nazeeh by a margin of two votes.
In the judgment delivered by the High Court, it stated that the marks on the three vote papers involved in the case were marks that made the papers identifiable even upon a superficial inspection. Therefore, the court ruled that these were not votes where the secrecy of the vote could be guaranteed.
Consequently, the judgment declared those three vote papers invalid. It also ordered the Elections Commission to announce the election results again after deducting those three votes. By following this order, the election victory shifted to Nazeeh instead of the MDP candidate. And so, the ruling appealed at the Supreme Court on behalf of the MDP candidate.
The Supreme Court's ruling that was made today states that the EC and the printing company said that it is unreasonable to attempt to rid spots and dust that occur while printing on ballot paper and that if every ballot paper that has such spots is to be invalidated, it will open the door for ballot papers to be invalidated in all future elections.
"We believe that, in shaping the entire electoral system, this will bring about unforeseen and negative consequences," said Judge Abdulla Hameed while delivering a judgement with a majority of three judges.
And so, while reading out the judgement, Judge Hameed stated that the High Court's ruling is against legal and judicial regulations, and that the ruling is voided.
Judges Hameed, Hussain Shaheed and Mohamed Saleem oversaw the Supreme Court case. with the bench being presided over by Judge Hameed.
With the Supreme Court's ruling, MDP candidate Ahusham will secure victory. As the case is still in court, the Veyvah Council seat remains vacant.
