A magistrate court in Ho, the Volta Regional capital, has asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to delete 99 names of people believed to be non-residents from the voter register in the Ho Central Constituency.
This follows objections raised against those voters by a resident at Hodzokofe, on the basis that they are not residents in the area.
Agbesi Leonard, who testified in court on Tuesday, 16th August, 2016, explained that as a native of Hordzo who had lived there all his life, he had never seen such people in the area, although their names were similar to some people’s in the area.
During cross-examination by his counsel, Emmanuel Ohene, Leonard said he tried all he could to locate the residents of the challenged persons, but to no avail.
He also added that since he challenged the people, followed by the pasting of their details at the various polling stations in the area, none of them nor their relations, had shown up to prove otherwise.
The magistrate further cross-examined him and the representative from the Electoral Commission. The EC representative corroborated the claims of Leonard, saying they followed the processes prescribed by the CI 91 to give the challenged persons an opportunity to prove their residency but to no avail.
They further consulted the chiefs, opinion leaders and residents, including beating of gong gong and durbar, but there was no response.
As a result, they had to resort to the court, which has the power to order the deletion of persons considered to be ineligible to be on the voter register.
After thorough interrogations, the magistrate ordered that the EC should delete the 99 names challenged by the petitioner.
DAILY GUIDE information from the community suggests that most of the people challenged had come from neighbouring Togo to register and vote in the upcoming elections.
Meanwhile, figures from the EC indicate that a total of 5,656 names were objected to, in the just-ended voter register exhibition in the region, comprising 3,193 deceased persons and 2,463 challenged for not meeting some requirements of the Constitution and electoral laws.
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