Court Summons Ashaiman EC To Produce Ballot Box.

A writ of summons at the Ashaiman Circuit Court has directed the Electoral Commission (EC) in the Ashaiman Municipality and the Ashaiman Constituency Chairman of the National Democratic Party (NDC) to produce the Naa Amui Electoral Area ballot box and the entire ballot papers of the recently ended district level elections for recounting.

The writ filled by a candidate for Naa Amui Electoral Area, Mr Nicodemus Fumey and five polling agents and his supporters, dated January 19, 2011 was to compel the Ashaiman Municipal Electoral Commission and the Constituency Chairman of the NDC to make appearance in eight days or judgement would be given in their absence.

Other plaintiffs in the writ were: Benjamin Cofie Agbotse, George Yao Atsu, Philip Ashiagbor, Prosper Tetteh and Akligo Gilbert, all of Ashaiman.

As part of the statement of claim, the plaintiffs accused the NDC Constituency Chairman of taking away the ballot box and some voting papers. He had since not returned them.

This incident, according to the plaintiffs, prevented the Electoral Commission from declaring the winner of the poll..

The plaintiffs claimed that at the end of the district level elections which was held at the Musama Disco Christo Polling Station at Ashaiman last December, three ballot papers were declared to be rejected.

According to the writ, the plaintiffs demanded to see the rejected papers but the officers refused to show the papers to them.

The plaintiffs claimed that in the midst of the argument, the NDC Constituency Chairman emerged and took the box together with the ballot papers away but had since not returned it and that had prevented the EC from declaring a winner.

According to the plaintiffs, petitions to the EC demanding the release of the ballot papers together with all the rejected ones for them to assess the situation after the election did not yield any result.

Plaintiffs claimed they resorted to the court action to save the situation in Ashaiman and further stated that, “tempers are high and must be calmed”.

They also said the EC was not responding to their requests to produce the ballot box and the voting papers.