Ablekuma Central election petition trial: Parties ordered to exchange documents
The Accra Fast Track High Court has ordered parties in the Ablekuma Central parliamentary election petition to exchange documents they intend to rely on in the trial.
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The exchange of documents is provided for by the Civil Procedure rule (C.I.47).
Consequently, the court, presided over by Justice U.P Derry, has adjourned the case to July 26, 2013.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate for Ablekuma Central in the 2012 general election, Mr Ebenezer Nii Narh Nartey, filed a petition to challenge the declaration of the incumbent Member of Parliament, Mr Tetteh Chaie by the Electoral Commission as victor of the 2012 parliamentary poll.
However, the NDC MP for the constituency said the case had no merit.
Mr Chaie rejected allegations that he rigged the election to win the Ablekuma Central seat.
He noted that while his contender was adamant, he was training his polling agents to be vigilant, stressing that he collated the results of the election before the Electoral Commission declared him victor.
The petitioner seeks to annul the parliamentary result in Ablekuma Central, citing various reasons, including over-voting, voting without biometric verification and lack of certification of the results.
He stated in an affidavit in support that there was non-compliance with the Constitution, PNDC Law 284, as well as the Public Elections Regulations (C.I. 75).
It said the petitioner was prepared to lead evidence to show that there were over-voting at several polling stations in the constituency where valid and rejected ballots exceeded the number of ballots issued to voters.
According to Mr Nartey, there was the need for the court to nullify a total of 13,170 votes and deduct same from the 10 parliamentary candidates who contested the election in the constituency.
"The unique code assigned for each polling station was duplicated in some polling stations," he claimed, adding that contrary to C.I. 75, "there was no biometric verification during the voting in several polling stations".
He further claimed that the presiding officers of many polling stations in the constituency failed to certify the results.
Mr Nartey averred that there were widespread instances where the words and figures of votes cast as recorded on the pink sheets did not tally, thus raising doubts as to which results were actually recorded.
The petitioner is, therefore, urging the court to scrutinise the collated figures leading to the declaration of his contender as the winner of the election.
He said failure to comply with the constitution and C.I. 75 meant that the election was not conducted in accordance with the law and had affected the final results.
By Michael Donkor/Daily Graphic/Ghana