High Court orders recount at Thimarafushi station, cites unexplained changes in provisional results and EC’s failure to notify candidates

The High Court has ordered the Election Commission to cut open the security envelopes containing the ballot papers of a polling station for Th. Thimarafushi, recount the ballots, and redetermine the results for that station.

The order was issued in a judgment on an election complaint filed by defeated PNC candidate Mohamed Imaadh, who sought annulment of the results of the recent local council elections and either a re‑poll or a recount at the disputed polling station at Aminiya School, Male’ city.

A three‑judge bench of the High Court ruled Thursday that the Election Commission cannot annul the election held among candidates contesting for the Thimarafushi council seat. However, Chief Judge Abdulla Jameel Mohamed, Hussain Mazeed and Abdul Maniu Hussain ordered a recount.

The dispute arose after complaints of discrepancies between the provisional results initially announced at the polling station and those later published on the Election Commission’s website.

According to the ruling, the Election Commission did not inform any candidate or candidate representative when figures on the provisional result sheet for the Thimarafushi polling station were altered.

The Court also noted that after the results were uploaded to the Commission’s website, the provisional results posted online were found to be incorrect, prompting a review of the ballot box’s provisional results sheet.