The Supreme Court will on Monday bring closure to the issue of disqualification of presidential aspirants.
At the Supreme Court’s sitting on Friday, Graphic Online’s Mabel Aku Baneseh reported that the seven-member panel directed the parties, the Electoral Commission and Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People’s Party to file their written addresses by close of day on Friday November 4.
This is to enable the court, to bring finality to the issue on Monday when it rules on the matter.
Meanwhile at the Accra High Court’s sitting on Friday, the decision of the Electoral Commission (EC) to disqualify the presidential aspirant of the All People’s Congress (APC), Mr Hassan Ayariga was quashed.
The High Court ordered the EC to give Mr Ayariga the opportunity to correct the errors on his forms within a limited time, Graphic Online’s Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson reported.
According to the court, presided over by Ms Justice Barbara Tetteh-Charway, the failure of the EC to notify Mr Ayariga of the errors on his forms and give him an opportunity to correct them was in violation of C. I. 94 and thus the EC did not act fairly and reasonably in disqualifying the APC presidential aspirant.
The EC has applied to the Supreme Court seeking to quash an earlier Accra High Court order which nullified the disqualification of the presidential aspirant of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, from contesting the December 7, 2016 presidential election.
The EC’s application is invoking the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to quash the October 28, 2016 ruling of Justice Eric Kyei Baffour which directed the EC to permit Dr Nduom to effect corrections on his nomination forms.
The EC’s application has been mounted on three grounds in the writ invoking the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
The grounds are that the High Court committed an error of law apparent on the face of the record, that the High Court wrongly assumed jurisdiction of the matter and that the court exceeded its jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday would determine whether or not the two orders from the High Court should be complied with.
The ruling will as well have an effect on all other presidential disqualification cases currently pending at the High Court.
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