There are currently 4,100 political employees in the government and the payroll has increased exponentially in the Muizzu administration, Hanimaadhoo MP Abdul Ghafoor Moosa said has said.

Debating the bill to amend the Constitution to merge the parliamentary and presidential elections, Ghafoor said the number of government political employees has increased dramatically.

"When the government changed, the state payroll was at MVR 11 billion. Today, the state payroll has reached MVR 17 billion. The state has to spend MVR 6 billion because of the increase in political employees," Ghafoor said.

"There are 4,000 political employees in the United States. There are 4,100 political employees in this country."

Ruling People's National Congress (PNC) MPs interrupted him to stop the speech.

When Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla advised MPs, Ghafoor continued speaking about the increased expenditure and said the people did not want the two elections to be merged.

According to the President's Office, there are 922 political employees in the Muizzu administration. But the figure cannot be verified. The opposition estimates the number at more than 2,000.

The Finance Ministry refused to respond to a Right to Information (RTI) request regarding the number of political employees and gave false information to a hearing of the Information Commissioner's (ICOM) Office.

The ministry claimed that it does not keep a separate record of political employees. But each government agency sends salary sheets to the ministry every month.