Parliament has passed an amendment to the General Election Act to revise Parliament election date to 10 days after Ramadan ends.

Ihavandhoo MP Mohamed Shifau introduced the bill in the Parliament on behalf of the opposition MDP.

Introducing the bill in parliament, he said it was submitted to address the problems that would arise as the current law is in place and this year's parliamentary elections are due to the holy month of Ramadan.

The Election Commission (EC) has scheduled the parliamentary elections to be held on March 17, which is the seventh day of Ramadan.

There have been concerns that if such a large election is held during the fasting month, people will face hardships and many people will not come out to vote.

Therefore, an amendment has been proposed under Section 43 of the Act to prevent elections from being held during fasting.

Clause (A) says that in an election, the date of voting, the time of voting and as a general rule, the time of completion of the vote and the time at which the counting of votes will be conducted and the time at which the counting of votes will be announced.

While the bill seeks to add additional clauses, the amendment proposed as clause (B) states that elections shall not be held on the day of Ramadan, even if otherwise specified in this Act or any other law, and that if the date of election coincides with the day of Ramadan, it shall be held 10 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.

The amendment proposed to add clause (C) states, "In the event of a situation in which the period specified in sub-section (B) is not applicable under the special law relating to elections or under this Act, the Election Commission shall re-fix the periods for holding the elections in accordance with the provisions of this section."

According to the bill, elections shall not be held without giving 30 days to the candidates to seek support between the date of declaration of candidature by the Election Commission and the date of publication of the numbers of the candidates.

The bill has raised the earlier provision of penalty for violators to over MVR 200,000.

The bill was opposed by the ruling PNC.

However, the bill was passed by the Parliament after only three members voted against the bill, with 46 of the 50 members present in the Parliament voting in favour of the bill.