Some members of the governing New Patriotic Party, NPP, in the New Juaben South Constituency have secured a court injunction against the constituency’s upcoming polling station and area coordinators elections.
The four plaintiffs, Jalil Ibn Tahir, Amoh Jonas, Ako George and Mable Asantewaa Aikins, said there has been a deliberate attempt by the constituency executives not to make the nomination forms available to all aspirants.
They claim that the executives are rather selling the forms to their favourite aspirants clandestinely, hence denying others the opportunity to contest in the elections.
“All efforts to buy copies of the nomination forms have proved futile…The plaintiffs say the defendants are secretly and or clandestinely selling nomination forms to their favourites, depriving other prospective candidates attempts to contest for their respective positions in their various poling stations,” they mentioned in their statement of claim.
They accused the Constituency Chairman, Prince Benjamin Aboagye and the Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Alhassan of failing to open nominations on the expected date, 19th February, 2022.
They also accused them of failing to communicate the venue for the picking of nomination forms as expected of them.
According to the plaintiffs, although they petitioned the elections committee over the issue, nothing was done about it.
They therefore want the court to order the defendants to cancel the entire electioneering process due to the irregularities and “an order of the court directed at the defendants who are in charge/custody of the nomination forms for the polling station and electoral area coordinators election to make same available to all eligible prospective candidates in the upcoming polling station and electoral area coordinators elections New Juaben Constituency.”
They also want the national executives to take charge of the sale of nomination forms and an order that “no prospective aspirant shall be denied access to the purchase of application forms.”
There have been disagreements in the NPP after some party members accused executives of giving preferential treatment in the distribution of the forms for the polling station elections in some constituencies.
In other parts of the country, party members are also protesting a decision by the executives to sell out the forms to them after some big-wigs in the NPP announced that they had paid for the forms.
The polling station elections have been scheduled for March 24-25, 2020. There has been malcontent in multiple constituencies over claims some party executives are hoarding nomination forms.
The confusion started in Manhyia North, where an executive had to seek refuge in a police station after being hounded by some supporters.
In the Volta Region, some Ho Central Constituency executives, aspirants, and NPP polling station executives are also threatening to disrupt the NPP’s constituency elections due to disagreements over the distribution of nomination forms.
Some members of the party in the Odododiodioo constituency of the Greater Accra Region protested against the leadership of the party accusing them of distributing fake forms.
These tensions have prompted the National Executive Committee of the NPP to meet on the matter.
The NPP has said it will investigate the issues leading to the chaos in the distribution of forms in parts of the country.
