Techiman South polls: Court rejects NDC’s application to amend petition

The Wenchi High Court has dismissed an application by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to amend portions of its petition in respect of its earlier stance on collation of results in the Techiman South Constituency.

The petitioners had originally claimed there was no collation of parliamentary election results in the Techiman South Constituency, insisting there were also no documents to that effect.

Following a recent order by the Court which was compiled by the Electoral Commission (EC) on Monday, April 19, 2021, with details of collation and pink sheets to prove otherwise, the NDC sought to amend its earlier stance to the effect that there was collation but it was characterized by inaccuracies.

But this was thrown out by the presiding judge, Mr Justice Fredrick Arnold Nawurah on the basis that they were embarking on a fishing expedition to rather rely on the documents of the defense to strengthen their case

It would be recalled that the NDC after the 2020 polls dared the EC to produce the collation sheets of the polls in Techiman South insisting it was rigged in favour of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and proceeded to the Wenchi High Court to challenge the outcome.

But the court in one of its directives asked that the original documents should be presented to NDC’s 2020 Parliamentary Candidate Christopher Baasongti Beyere for inspection which the EC has since provided.

The petitioners however accused the EC of manipulating the collation of results in favour of the MP and were of the view that the party’s candidate, Mr Christopher Baasongti Bayere, won the parliamentary seat in the 2020 general election.

As a result, the NDC changed its earlier position that there was no collation to the fact that was indeed collation except that it was characterized by irregularities.

The case has been adjourned to 11th May, 2021 after a cost of GHC1000 cedis was awarded against the Respondent for delaying the process.