Four ask court to invite EC over Zenator Rawlings’s case
Four Korle Klottey Constituency executive members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have applied to the Accra High Court to subpoena the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) to produce the biometric voter registration records/information to establish whether or not Dr Zenator Agyeman Rawlings is a registered voter.
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Mr Joseph Botchway and three others want the court to order that if Dr Rawlings was a registered voter, the EC’s Chairperson must provide information on when her name was entered in the national biometric voters register.
The case is scheduled to be heard today.
They also want the court to direct the EC Chairperson to provide information on the date the NDC parliamentary aspirant for the constituency registered and the name of the registration officer.
The application for subpoena was filed on their behalf by their counsel, Mr Gary Nimako Marfo, on December 30, 2015.
Joined to the action are the NDC and Dr Rawlings.
Provide data
The four executive members want the High Court to order the Chairperson of the EC to furnish it with the time Dr Rawlings’s name was entered in the roll as shown on the printout of the voters register.
They also want the court to order the chairperson to produce biometric voter registration records/information to ascertain the registration centre name and code and the constituency in which the registration took place.
They further want the court to direct the chairperson to furnish the court with Dr Rawlings’s voters identity card number, her biometric fingerprint and the type of identification documents used in the registration process.
Besides, they are praying the court to order the Chairperson to establish whether or not Dr Rawlings’s name had been publicly exhibited on any provisional voters register, and if yes, when it did so.
The executive members are asking the court to also order the chairperson to furnish the court with the said provisional voters register, copies of Form 1C that captured the data and copies of voter registration Form 1A.
“If the registration was during the limited registration period in 2014, a copy of the voter registration identification guarantee form, copies of the registration team details Form 2A should be provided.
“The EC Chairperson must furnish the court with the final biometric voters registration showing Dr Rawlings’s name,” they prayed the court.
Background
Dr Rawlings won the Korle Klottey parliamentary primary of the NDC after garnering 2,403 votes to beat the incumbent Member of Parliament, Nii Armah Ashitey.
Her votes represented 62.22 per cent of the total votes cast.
Nii Ashitey polled 1,348 votes, representing 34.90 per cent of votes cast.
A third contestant, John Coleman, polled only 100 votes, representing 2.5 per cent of the votes.
However, Dr Rawlings's membership of the NDC has been at the centre of discussions among party functionaries in the constituency from the very first day she made public her desire to contest the primary.
Although the controversy surrounding her membership was put to rest, she had explained that she had been a member of the party since the 1990s.
The eldest daughter of former President John Jerry Rawlings was, on October 8, 2015, cleared by the leadership of the ruling NDC to contest the parliamentary primary.
Writer’s email: [email protected]
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