Dispute submission for PNC member list extended until April 13

Ruling party People's National Congress (PNC) has opened dispute submissions regarding any discrepancies in the party's membership list until 13th April 2025, after it was discovered that there were multiple fraudulent forms submitted during their membership drive.

This comes after PNC admitted that invalid forms were submitted during the party's membership recruitment programme, and vowed to investigate the matter.

While the party garnered significant criticism over the situation, Election Commission (EC) also opened complaint submissions over membership issues.

In PNC's announcement, the party said they received complaints regarding membership after the drive. The party also said they are looking into complained received since they initially opened up submissions on January 13th. They also asked any issues regarding membership to be escalated to the party's main office or island steering committees.

According to the announcement, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu ordered to further strengthen the party's administrative structure to ensure the validity of the party's registry.

The issue of fraudulent party membership forms were also escalated to Maldives Police Service and the Elections Commission for investigation. PNC assured the party's full cooperation in these probes.

Regarding the matter, Elections Commission said it received 300 cases of invalid membership registrations in the past six months. The issue made headlines recently after MP Hussain Ziyad, who holds the seat on an MDP ticket, was registered to PNC without his knowledge.

Elections Commission data shows that PNC currently has the number members in the country. The party has more than 68,900 members.