The ruling PNC has agreed that fake membership forms were submitted to the Elections Commission during its most recent membership drive.
PNC said that after it faced many accusations, it had been registering individuals to the party without their knowledge and committing forgery to submit forms in their names.
In a statement, the PNC said it had submitted thousands of forms to the Election Commission during the nationwide membership drive to increase its membership and that some were fake.
The PNC said it was uploading forms through the party's election portal but could not verify the validity of the forms received.
It further said that this raises questions about the validity of the form at the final stage of submission to the Election Commission and this is not only a challenge for the party.
PNC said that the Elections Commission as well as the Police were investigating the alleged forgery and that the party had been notified about the investigations. It also said that that party would conduct its internal investigation to determine how the fake forms were submitted.
Political parties have been submitting forged membership forms for years in the Maldives, essentially to meet the minimum membership quota of 3,000 as stipulated by the law.
