The Election Commission (EC) has said that 16,000 people applied for re-registration yesterday alone to change their polling stations in the second round of the presidential election.

Re-registration for the second round is open from yesterday. EC Vice-President Ismail Habib said more than 16,000 people had applied for re-registration yesterday alone. More than 9,000 of them have submitted their applications to the EC while more than 7,000 have submitted their applications online, he said.

The Election Commission said today that those who submit a large number of applicants for re-registration will be contacted by the Election Commission to verify the validity of the forms brought.

The Election Commission has also decided to take action against those who submit invalid forms. He further added that the EC appeals all to refrain from violating a person's right to vote.

The Election Commission has opened the opportunity to re-register to vote in the second round of the presidential election from 03:00 pm yesterday until 04:00 pm tomorrow.

Only those who wish to register in an island or place other than the one registered in the first round of the presidential election will be able to apply for registration within this period.

Applications for registration can be submitted online through the Election Commission’s re-registration portal or from the respective council offices and neighborhood offices of city councils in all residential areas except Male' City. If in the capital, it must be submitted to the EC headquarters at Dharubaaruge.

Re-registration forms are available on the Election Commission's website and at council offices.

When submitting the form online through the re-registration portal, a copy of an official document identifying the applicant as a voter will be required. When submitting the form, all the information contained in the form of the Election Commission's re-registration portal should be completed.

In the first round of the election, 35,849 people re-registered within the re-registration window.

282,395 people were eligible to vote in the first round but 225,486 people cast their ballots. That's 79 percent of the eligible voters.

The Election Commission said another 403 young people who have turned 18 by that date will be able to vote in the second round of voting on 30th of this month. Therefore, the total number of eligible voters in the second round has reached 282,803.