Supreme Court reinstates ousted Thulusdhoo MP Waheed

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Mohamed Waheed Ibrahim of Thulusdhoo constituency has not lost his seat in parliament.

The verdict was reached unanimously by all five judges on the top court's bench.

The Elections Commission (EC) had declared Waheed disqualified from parliament, in relation to the Supreme Court's prickly anti-defection ruling last year, which stated that any lawmaker who resigned or was dismissed after July 13, 2017 from the political party they were registered at during the time of their election to parliament, would lose their seat by default.

MP Waheed and his lawyer had filed at the court protesting that he was dismissed from ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) before the top court ruling, while the prosecution insisted he was dismissed after that verdict.

In the verdict announced more than a year after MP Waheed first filed the case, the Supreme Court stated that it was evident that Waheed was dismissed from PPM after the top court's anti-defection ruling on July 13, 2017. The verdict stated that the EC had declared Waheed disqualified based on his actions prior to the anti-defection ruling.

The verdict further noted that the Supreme Court had followed up with another order on July 16, 2017, in which the court had declared that its anti-defection ruling could not be applied retroactively.

Moreover, the court highlighted that PPM had informed the EC in a letter that Waheed was expelled from the ruling party on March 28, 2017. Further noting that when EC had not removed Waheed's name from PPM's registry despite the party's official request on July 10, 2017, the verdict pointed out that Waheed had filed a complaint at EC the day after over not removing his name.

Waheed is amongst 12 lawmakers who were declared disqualified from the parliament over the anti-defection ruling. While all 12 have also filed at the top court to overturn the EC's decision to oust them, the court so far has held the hearings of only Waheed, Villingili MP Saud Hussain, Dhidhdhooo MP Abdul Latheef Mohamed, and Maduvvari MP Mohamed Ameeth .

The court is scheduled to announce the verdicts for Saud, Abdul Latheef and Ameeth on Monday as well.

The EC last week had reverted its previous decision to expel the 12 lawmakers from parliament. However, the Supreme Court nullified the EC's decision, stating that only the top court was authorised to look into the cases from a constitutional perspective and reach a verdict.