Hours after the opposition wrested parliament control from the government by securing the signatures of 45 lawmakers to file a fresh censure motion to unseat the parliament speaker, ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) rejected the motion alleging that signatures of five ruling coalition lawmakers had been forged.
After the now opposition coalition in March had filed a second motion to unseat speaker Abdulla Maseeh, the government had engineered an amendment to the parliament rules of procedure raising the number of lawmaker signatures required to file a censure motion against the speaker and his deputy from 15 to 42.
The opposition had filed the third censure motion against Maseeh with 45 lawmakers which included nine lawmakers from the ruling party.
However during an impromptu press conference, PPM deputy leader and Inguraidhoo MP Ibrahim Falah claimed that the opposition had "deceived" as many as five lawmakers into signing the motion.
"One of those members, Isdhoo MP Ahmed Rasheed is ready to go on live television and deny signing the motion," Falah added.
Chief government lawmaker and Villi-Maafannu MP Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik questioned the validity of the motion if the authenticity of the signatures were in doubt.
Reiterating Nihan's comments, Fonadhoo MP and PPM deputy leader Abdul Raheem Abdulla urged the parliament to "throw out" the motion.
Opposition however, dismissed the allegations insisting that there were photos and videos of the lawmakers signing the motion.
The country has plunged into fresh political strife after the main opposition leaders including former presidents Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed penned a historic treaty against the government.
The opposition has since diverted its focus to weaken the government through the parliament.
The latest development has been hailed as a major victory by the opposition for its quest for reform insisting that the move to unseat the speaker would be the "start."