An additional 1,600 people are needed to act as officials in the upcoming parliamentary elections, Election Commission Vice-President Ismail Habib has said.

Speaking on Aslu TV's "Baabu" program yesterday, EC Vice-President Habib said the city does not have enough officials. He noted that while 6,000 officials are required, only 4,400 have been trained so far.

"We need 1,600 more officials. More training is also needed. If the election was held on the scheduled date earlier, more staff would be released and the EC's costs would be reduced," he said.

Referring to the salaries of the EC's temporary employees, Habib said the Ramadan Allowance of 300 temporary employees alone costs nearly a million Rufiyaa.

In addition, focal points, overtime pay, and additional expenses will be incurred. In addition, he noted that training has been conducted in rural areas in the Atolls, and all other cities except the capital he said.

However, as the parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held on April 21, there is a one-and-a-half-month period between the training and the polling day.

Refresher training will be conducted in the Atolls from today and will be conducted online.

"57 resorts have been announced to set up polling stations. Resorts that have not set up polling stations before will have the opportunity to set up polling stations," he said.

The EC is asking the resort authorities and the Ministry of Tourism to work together to check the number of resort employees and inform the EC.