A relatively unknown independent candidate filed his candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections.
Elections Commission confirmed that Hussain Naseer had filed his candidacy on Wednesday.
The commission by law would now need to decide whether Naseer and his running mate would be eligible to contest the elections within 48 hours.
Naseer has nominated religious scholar Sheikh Nasrulla Musthafa as his running mate who had recently been charged over a Hajj pilgrimage scam.
Nasrullah was arrested in November over his alleged involvement in a scam that saw four people sent to Mecca without any arrangements for their pilgrimage.
The four were stranded in Saudi Arabia before the state-run Hajj Corporation stepped in. Nasrulla had sued four journalists for MVR7 million each claiming defamation for various articles reporting the incident. He had later withdrawn the lawsuit.
Naseer joins opposition alliance presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih as the second candidate to file for the September elections.
The commission has since officially accepted Solih's candidacy.
Incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom along with former home minister Umar Naseer had publicly announced intention to contest the elections. The duo however are yet to file their respective candidacies as the deadline ends on Friday.
