Maldives Election Ballot Boxes Are Safeguarded In India - Here's Why

The parliamentary elections in Maldives, rescheduled from 17 March to 21 April 2024, will witness the first elections during the holy month of Ramzan. It was announced by the Maldivian election commission on Saturday that ballot boxes for the upcoming parliamentary election will be stationed in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram.

Additionally, ballot boxes will be placed in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo and in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. The sufficient re-registration of voters during the re-registration window has warranted the placement of ballot boxes in three foreign countries, as stated by Hassan Zakariyya, the secretary general of the Maldivian poll body, as reported by First Post.

No Voting in UK, UAE, and Thailand for Maldives Elections

The Maldives Election Commission announced that approximately 11,000 Maldivians had requested re-registration to relocate their polling stations, on Sunday. Reports from the media indicated that the six-day window for people to relocate their voting stations for the parliamentary elections had expired on Saturday, according to a notification from the Elections Commission.

The electoral body stated that in addition to polling stations within the island nation, ballot boxes would also be placed in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), the capital of Kerala, as well as in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, following re-registration by at least 150 people in each of these three countries, as per media reports.

Hassan Zakariyya, the secretary-general of the Elections Commission, was quoted by the web portal adadhu.com as saying, "As previously, enough people registered in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. And since 150 people had registered in Thiruvananthapuram, India, we have decided to set up a ballot box there."

During the specified period, the top electoral body received 11,169 application forms for re-registration at various voting stations. Of these, 1,141 forms were rejected, bringing the total number of re-registrations to 10,028, as reported by the edition.mv news portal.

Zakariyya noted that the number of people who re-registered this year is lower compared to past elections. He also stated that voting would not be held in the UK, UAE, and Thailand.

Maldives Election Rescheduled to April

The parliamentary elections in the island nation, originally scheduled for Sunday (17 March), were deferred after an amendment to an Act to refrain from conducting elections during the month of Ramzan. The poll date has now been rescheduled to be held on 21 April.

A total of 389 candidates are contesting for 93 parliamentary seats in Maldives' elections, as reported by the sun.mv news portal.

The highest number of candidates are from the pro-India main Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) - which is contesting 90 seats, followed by the main ruling coalition of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the People's National Congress (PNC), which is contesting 89 seats.

Maldives pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu, who belongs to the PNC, was brought to power last year on an anti-India stance.