The Elections Commission of the Maldives (EC) has made it optional to include the National ID number of the applicant's mother when submitting party application forms.

In the sixth amendment to the Political Parties Regulation by the EC, it was a requirement to include the details of the mother of the applicant when submitting a form to be a part of a political party. Email addresses and social media accounts were included as an optional requirement.

The regulation also noted that the phone number specified in the form will be notified about the application, which needs to be answered within seven days. The parties are also held responsible to verify the information provided by applicants.

Several people however expressed concern over having to disclose the details of their mothers on the application forms.

The EC had brought a seventh amendment to the regulation last night, where including the mother's national ID no was made an option though other aspects of the form remained unchanged.

EC Vice President Ismail Habeeb stated that the changes were to combat the use of fake forms.