Supreme Court orders to accept candidacy of female candidate for Thulusdhoo Council

The Supreme Court has ordered the Elections Commission (EC) to accept the candidacy Fathimath Soozan, who is contesting as an independent candidate for the woman’s seat on K. Thulusdhoo Council.

Two separate cases concerning the upcoming Local Council Elections and Women's Development Committee Elections, scheduled for April 4^th, were lodged with Maldives’ top court.

The cases against EC were lodged by Fathimath Soozan, Lakusavee, K. Thulusdhoo, who applied to contest for the women's seat on Thulusdhoo Council and Abdul Majeed, Rindhalige, K. Guraidhoo, who applied to contest for the presidency of Guraidhoo Council.

While Supreme Court has delivered its ruling in both cases, in Soozan’s case, the court ordered EC to accept her candidacy.

Soozan’s candidacy was rejected over an alleged outstanding debt.

However, during the hearings, it was revealed that although the Thulusdhoo Magistrate Court had earlier ordered her to settle a debt, the Finance Ministry held no record of any outstanding liability in her name.

The three-judge bench unanimously ruled that since debt recovery and record maintenance fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance, its failure to maintain records or initiate enforcement action cannot be used to determine that a candidate has an unpaid debt. The court therefore concluded that Soozan satisfies the legal criteria to contest the election.

The case was heard by Justice Abdulla Hameed, Justice Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, and Justice Ali Rasheed Hussain.

In contrast, the Supreme Court declined to hear the petition filed by Abdul Majeed. The court determined that it lacked jurisdiction over his case, as the EC had rejected his candidacy due to incomplete documentation and missing information required in the application process.

Majeed’s case was reviewed by a separate bench comprising Justice Aisha Shujune Mohamed, and Justice Mohamed Saleem, and Justice Hussain Shaheed.