Two rival candidates of the ruling People's National Congress (PNC) internal election have assaulted each other at the polling station in Thaa Kandoodhoo island.
The fight occurred between two candidates in Thaa Kandoodhoo constituency at around 2:30 pm. A video of the incident is circulating on social media.
Kandoodhoo council President Ahmed Reehan said one of the candidates had damaged the ballot box and taken the ballot papers to his home.
"I was told that two people were unhappy with a change in the voters' list. The ballot box was broken and the papers were taken away by a candidate," Reehan said.
Voting in the PNC internal elections was held from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm today.
PNC said 33,500 people were eligible to vote while candidates contested for 1984 positions. A total of 144 ballot boxes were set up.
The ruling party's internal elections were originally scheduled for October 19. But the party claimed that candidates wanted to postpone the vote.
At the time, a new date was announced for November 9, but the election was postponed for a third time to November 23.
Meanwhile, some candidates have withdrawn their candidacies after allegations of meddling.
Candidates who spoke to Adhadhu on condition of anonymity said they were unhappy because the party had published the candidates' list without their names.
PNC members complained about many irregularities when the candidates' list for the internal elections was made public on November 13.
The names of some candidates were missing from the list while several candidates were listed in the wrong constituencies.
PNC cancelled the list after blaming the irregularities on administrative errors.
