Falah deflects fake form allegations, blames MDP

PNC’s parliamentary group leader, Inguraidhoo MP Ibrahim Falah has deflected allegations against the ruling party for enrollment in the party with fake forms, blaming main opposition MDP instead.

Falah made the remark while debating on the report formulated by Parliament’s Independent Institution’s Committee on the appointment of members for vacant seats in the Elections Commission (EC) during Thursday’s parliamentary sitting.

In this regard, Falah said PNC was reaching 75,000-membership mark through significant efforts.

Indirectly responding to MDP, he alleged some political parties voluntarily enrolled their members in PNC to sabotage this work as they could not comprehend such a large number of people joining the ruling party in such a short amount of time.

“The citizens of Maldives need to know this today. Some MPs have enrolled in PNC voluntarily by submitting fake forms. Things were done very wrongly, including misleading the media,” he said.

Falah’s allegations come after it was revealed earlier this week that opposition MDP’s Vaikaradhoo MP Hussain Ziyadh (Fittey) had been fraudulently enrolled in PNC.

The allegations prompted MDP MPs to raise point of orders to deny the allegation.

In this trajectory, Kendhoo MP Mauroof Zakir reiterated that Ziyadh had been fraudulently enrolled in PNC. In response, Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla stated that his argument did not constitute a point of order and emphasized that the claim of fraudulent enrollment in PNC remained an unproven allegation.

As such, Falah resumed in arguments, citing he was mentioning the enrollment of MP in PNC, not to defame the said MP, but to bring to attention that he had also previously been fraudulently enrolled in other political parties without his knowledge.

“Hence, only one MP is being enrolled in all parties fraudulently. The party’s leader, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, when assigning us tasks, advises and instructs us to carry them out with utmost sincerity, honesty and integrity….” Falah’s remarks were interrupted by South Hulhumale’ MP Ahmed Shamheed who took a point of order.

Speaker Abdul Raheem granted the opportunity to Shamheed to speak during which he stressed that EC had already decided the form in ZIyadh’s name was not submitted by him. The Speaker responded by saying EC had not informed the Parliament of such a decision, and therefore, his argument did not amount to a point of order.

Speaking further, Falah said Ziyadh might have submitted the form through another individual, adding MDP is well aware of Ziyadh’s fraudulent tactics.

“I can even enroll someone in MDP. For example, I can make an MP here fill out a form and enroll them in MDP. However, the current times is not as they say,” he said.

Falah emphasized that no one had been fraudulently enrolled in PNC. He also questioned whether the issue of fraudulent enrollment in a political party had “newly” come to light, coinciding with PNC's membership drive to reach 75,000 members.

The ruling party’s Parliamentary Group leader also criticized MDP for attempting to file a no-confidence motion against Home Minister Ali Ihusan in connection with the case. He pointed out that, although the issue was not new, the party had not previously given it such importance or discussed it to this extent.

He went on to suggest the possibility that MDP may have submitted fake forms to PNC’s 75,000-member drive, while also accusing Ziyadh of having engaged in similar actions on several previous occasions.

According to ZIyadh, he was enrolled in PNC without his knowledge and only became aware of the matter through another individual. EC had switched him back to MDP on the same day the matter had come to their attention, citing he was listed on PNC’s register without his consent and knowledge.

PNC later released a statement in connection to the case. In the statement, the ruling party acknowledged the possibility of invalid forms being submitted during their membership drive while stressing the party lacked the capacity to verify the validity of the forms received.