One of the keen contestants of the Mion constituency of the National Democratic Congress (NDC )parliamentary primaries has filed a writ of summons at the Tamale High Court to challenge the manner in which the polls were conducted.
It follows what the plaintiff called, denial of his request for a recount of the ballots at the collation center in the constituency by the returning officer, after a dispute over the results.
The plaintiff, Dr. Mu-Awiya Zakaria is seeking for an order to annul the results of the 21st November election at the Tuwua L/A primary school polling station. Dr. Mu-Awiya said he petitioned the party on the 24th of last month with a follow- up letter on the 27th of same month, but there was no response.
According to Dr. Mu-Awiya, the presiding officer, Aminu I. Wuntira was a member of the campaign team of the 3rd defendant.
Dr. Mu-Awiya is seeking three reliefs, an order from the court for a recount of the ballot papers in the Nakokpagyili, Kulinkpegu, Bofoyili, Dabogni and Gunsi polling stations and an order declaring the plaintiff as the lawful winner of the parliamentary primaries, the award of cost against the defendants and any other measures as the justice of the case may require among others.
A statement of claim by the plaintiff’s solicitors, A.F. Yakubu, is challenging the 1st defendant, the Electoral Commission(EC) which is responsible for the administration, management and supervision of public elections in Ghana including the Mion NDC primaries held on the 21st November, 2015.
The EC declared Mohammed Abdul Aziz who is the 2nd defendant as a winner with 1,652 votes, whilst the plaintiff had 1,639 votes, a difference of only 13 votes.
The plaintiff described the said election as fundamentally flawed at a number of polling stations and that but for these flaws and illegalities, he would have been declared the winner.
The plaintiff said the deputy Mion constituency secretary, who was the presiding officer of Tuwua L/A primary school polling station flouted the party’s constitution, which frowns on members of the executive supporting any candidate for an election.
To buttress his claim, the plaintiff said the deputy constituency secretary’s name appeared on the declaration sheet as presiding officer and that incontrovertible evidence points that he is the constituency secretary.
After the first collation, the plaintiff said it was found that he had won with 1731 votes, whilst Abdul Aziz (2nd defendant) had 1576 votes.
BELOW IS THE DETAILED SUMMONS
