The Tamale High Court has dismissed the election petition against Savelugu Member of Parliament Iddris Jacob Abdulai.
The petition was filed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the area, Mohammed Abdul Somed Gunu.
Mr Gunu, in January 2021, filed a petition at the Tamale High Court challenging the validity of the results declaration of Mr Iddris as the winner of the 2020 polls by the Electoral Commission (EC).
According to the petitioner, the purported election of the NDC candidate as a Member of Parliament for Savelugu was invalid owing to widespread malpractices and irregularities, which affected the outcome of the election.
He said the parliamentary and presidential elections were vitiated by gross and widespread malpractices that substantially and materially affected the results as declared by the EC in favour of Alhaji Iddris.
“When a proper reckoning is made of only lawful and valid votes cast, he (Gunu) ought to have been declared the duly elected Member of Parliament (MP) for the area,” he said in his petition.
Mr Gunu secured 19,478 votes, while Alhaji Abdulai Jacob Iddris, the NDC candidate, obtained 19, 577 votes.
But after two years of proceedings, the court presided over by Justice Daniel Obeng said the petitioner failed to provide evidence to warrant the reliefs being sought.
In its ruling, delivered on Friday, January 20, the court held that the allegations raised by the petitioner were simply administrative errors and no issue of over-voting has been proven.
The trial judge explained that the said administrative errors did not affect the outcome of the elections, thus confirming the results declared by Ghana’s electoral body.
The petitioner has therefore been ordered to pay GH¢40,000 and GH¢20,000 to the elected Member of Parliament Alhaji Iddris and the Electoral Commission, respectively.