The Electoral Commission has permitted voters who registered with a NHI card to vote in the Abetifi by-election despite a Supreme court judgment declaring such registrants illegal.
EC officials confirmed to Joy News Eastern regional correspondent Edwin Siaw they have allowed everyone to go ahead and vote. But they could not give any reason for the permissive stance.
EC officials supervising the elections are tight-lipped over the controversial permission and do not want to go on record.
The Abetifi by-election is proving a test case for the implementation of a Supreme Court judgment earlier this month after the court ordered the EC to delete 56,772 names.
It also ordered that any person whose name is not part of the list but registered for a voters ID card using the NHIS card to prove citizenship should volunteer and have their names expunged.
The affected are to be given the opportunity to re-register using proper identification documents.
The EC has complied with the judgment to delete and has announced that affected persons will be allowed to re-register on July
But with a by-election following the death of the sitting MP, the EC is faced with a situation where those affected by the Supreme Court judgement stand to be disenfranchised.
Some polling agents and residents are displeased about the development. The EC’s Eastern Regional Director Gabriel Dei had told Edwin Siaw to contact National Office for a comment.
In a developing twist, EC officials now maintain that there are no voters from Abetifi found in the official list of deleted NHIS registrants.
Myjoyonline.com is yet to independently verify the claim.
-myjoyonline