Nana Obiri Boahen
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has filed an election petition at the Sunyani High Court challenging the parliamentary results of three constituencies in the Brong Ahafo Region.
These are Asunafo South, Banda and Pru West constituencies.
The petitioners-George Boakye, Joe Danquah and Stephen Pampin Jalulah respectively are claiming that there were irregularities during voting as well as discrepancies in the results of the polls.
Parties
The respondents include the District Electoral and Returning Officers for the three constituencies, the Brong Ahafo Regional Electoral Officers and the Electoral Commission (EC) in Accra.
In the case of the Asunafo South represented by the NPP’s Boakye, Nana Obiri Boahen, lawyer for the petitioners, said some statements of polls were tempered with by some of the EC officials while some were not original.
He said about 13 ballot boxes with their contents arrived about four to 20 hours after polls had closed nationwide.
At the Banda constituency, some ballot papers had no serial numbers (example D/A Primary School, Bongase New Town) while statement of polls was tempered with by some of the EC officials.
According to him, some ballot boxes contained foreign materials.
The NPP scribe further averred that ballot papers in the ballot box for the D/A JHS Banda Boase polling station did not tally with total votes cast.
For Pru West, Pampin Jalulah alleges, among others, side-stepping the requirements of CI 94 and the Representation of the People Law (1992), PNDCL 284 as amended.
He said there was also thumb printing of ballot papers in favour of one Masawudu Mohammed, the NDC parliamentary candidate for the constituency.
Obiri Boahen contended that Masawudu himself knew that he had lost the election and even told the whole world that he was seeking redress in court.
The lawyer stated that the EC officials also claimed the ballot box for the presidential election was stolen.
Reliefs
As a result, the petitioners are variously seeking a declaration that they have been validly elected as Members of Parliament (MP) for their respective constituencies.
The three also want the results of the affected polling stations cancelled and orders for the re-run of the election and perpetual injection.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com