About 5,656 potential voters in the Volta Region risk an imminent expunction from the voters’ roll following numerous lawsuits challenging their eligibility.
The legal tussle mostly led by polling agents of the opposition New Patriotic Party seeking to prevent the registered voters, some of whom they claim are foreigners from voting in the general elections.
3,193 of the objections were on the basis of being deceased while the remaining 2463 are being objected to, on the grounds of being non-residents or foreigners. So far, some of the suits initiated across the 26 constituencies in the region have resulted in the grant of relief to the plaintiffs by the courts.
In the Ho West Constituency, Seven (7) out of the 171 names being objected have been directed by the court for deletion while the fate of the remaining 164 are yet to be determined by the Dzolokpuita Magistrate Court.
The appellants, Godwin Adinyirah , challenged voters in Gbadzeme in the Avatime Traditional Area while Moro Bamba challenged voters in Togorme in the Hornuta Traditional Area along the Ghana-Togo border.
Similarly some 99 names from the voters’ roll in the Ho central constituency are to be expunged following objections raised by one Leonard Agbesi, a resident of Hodzokorfe, claiming those persons were not ‘residents or ordinarily residents’ of his community.
One of the Lawyers for the plaintiffs, Emmanuel Ohene, told Citi News that there are other similar cases under trial across the country.
He said the lawsuits are necessary to prevent foreigners from taking advantage of the country’s voter’s register. CitiNews has gathered that most of the persons being objected have failed to appear before the magistrate courts for adjudication.
The District EC Officer, Regina Tackey told CitiNews that, after the objections were raised during the just ended Voters Register Exhibition exercise; several efforts to get the objected persons to prove their residential status in the area, in accordance with processes prescribed in the CI 91 were unsuccessful.
She said traditional authorities and town criers were engaged to help inform them but to no avail. The cases have been attracting lots of people to courts in the region majority of them being sympathizers of the ruling National Democratic Congress.
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