Maldives' apex court has accepted the legal challenge filed by incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom to the result of last month's presidential elections.
The complaint was filed at the island nation's Supreme Court on Wednesday, said Mohamed Saleem, the president's lawyer.
In a Twitter post close to midnight, the department of judicial administration said the top court had agreed to hear the case.
However, the court is yet to schedule a hearing of the challenge filed as a constitutional dispute.
Yameen lost the September 23 election by a margin of 16 percent to opposition alliance candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in an outcome hailed as a win for democracy in the crisis-hit archipelago.
The result was widely accepted, including by the United States, China, India, and the European Union.
Yameen conceded defeat a day after the election but has since alleged widespread irregularities in the vote.
The president, who says he will stay on in office until the end of his term on November 17, has offered little evidence to back his claim.
Solih had been backed by incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's main political rivals including the now jailed former presidents Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Mohamed Nasheed along with Jumhoory Party leader and business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim.
However, the ruling party has now claimed that the elections commission had rigged the elections and has been carrying out nightly protests demanding the commission to answer recent allegations.
President Yameen's legal team told local reporters that a constitutional dispute case had been filed in light of the concerns raised by his supporters over the vote.
"We reviewed the numerous complaints filed by president Yameen's supporters before deciding to file this challenge. So in light of that, president Yameen decided that he challenge must be filed for the rights of his supporters," president Yameen's lead lawyer Mohamed Saleem explained.
President Yameen himself had urged his supporters to demand the country's electoral watchdog to answer the numerous allegations of vote rigging that had surfaced after president Yameen had accepted the result and assured a smooth transition of power.
