Wenchi High Court dismisses case against Techiman South MP

The Wenchi High Court presided over by Justice Frederick Arnold W.K Nawurah has thrown out the petition against the Techiman South parliamentary election filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The court has also fined the petitioners GH¢ 100,000.00 to be shared between the member of parliament of the constituency and the Electoral Commission (EC).

The election petition was filed by the opposition NDC in respect of the 2020 parliamentary elections in the Techiman South Constituency which resulted in the death of eight people in the 2020 General Elections.

The NDC had said that it won the Techiman South parliamentary election but claimed that the EC and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) connived to deny it the seat.

But the EC insisted Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, Member of Parliament for the Techiman South Constituency polled 49,682 votes as against 49,205 votes for Christopher Beyere for the NDC.

The opposition party which was fighting the case in court accused the EC of manipulating the process during the collation of results from the various polling stations.

The NDC provided evidence to back its claim during court proceedings which has lasted almost two years.

It will be recalled that in August 2021, the Wenchi High Court refused to grant the notice of stay of proceedings filed by counsel for the EC.

The application was to enable the EC to file a motion at the Court of Appeal to challenge the ruling of the Wenchi High Court during it previous sittings at Wenchi.

It granted a motion of the petitioner to amend the title of the writ.

In refusing to grant the application, the court however slapped a cost of GH¢ 4,000.00 fine on the EC.

FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, SUNYANI