Only Jumhoree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim can run for president on the party ticket, says its deputy leader Dr Hussain Rasheed Ahmed.

This comes after Former Home Minister Umar Naseer said he would run in the presidential election as the JP candidate, if its leader 'is ineligible'.

It was last week that the former minister announced his decision to join Jumhooree Party, adding that he wished to assist the party in the upcoming elections.

On Saturday, Dr Hussain Rasheed Ahmed on Twitter cited JP's policy as saying that only the party's leader is eligible to run in the presidential election on behalf of the party, and that no one else can do so even if the JP leader is unable to run.

In 2013, Umar Naseer assisted in Qasim's presidential campaign after losing to current President Abdulla Yameen in Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)'s primary election.