The Democrats withdraws support for constitutional challenge

The Democrats party has withdrawn its support from the petition submitted to the Supreme Court challenging the anti-defection amendment enacted to the constitution.

Initially both MDP and The Democrats applied to formally support the petition in court, which was initiated by former Kendhoo MP and lawyer Ali Hussain.

However, the Supreme Court said despite being informed to complete application documents, the party had failed to do so. The Democrats had also not participated in the initial hearings of the case held this week.

While the party has now withdrawn its support, Democrats' new President Imthiyaz Fahmy recently said that the Supreme Court lacks the authority to hear the case. In a post on X, he said only the parliament reserves the power to put together and amend the constitution.

To support his argument, Imthiyaz cited an example from the United States where the 18th Amendment prohibited alcohol but was repealed with the 21st Amendment. He said that despite the 18th Amendment being deemed as an infringement of individual rights by some, it remained as part of the constitution until it was reversed by the Congress.

“...This means that only the legislature has the power to make and amend the Constitution,” Imthiyaz said.

However, this is not the view of the entire Democrats party. Some members of the party told Mihaaru that the party's decision to support the Supreme Court case, initially made while the party's former President Hassan Latheef was in office still remains the same.

The Democrats also issued a statement against the amendment initially, expressing that they supported the motion to quash the amendment.