Court Throws Out Techiman South Election Petition; Fines NDC GH¢100k

The Wenchi High Court has dismissed the Techiman South parliamentary election petition filed by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The court also awarded a cost of GH¢100,000 against the petitioners. The money will go to the respondents in the case — the Techiman South MP and the Electoral Commission.

In its ruling, the court explained that the NDC 2020 Parliamentary candidate, Dr. Christopher Beyere Baasongti failed to prove the burden of petitioning.

The opposition NDC is in court challenging the outcome of the Techiman South parliamentary elections that saw the New Patriotic Party candidate Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah emerging as the winner of the polls.

The petitioners have maintained that it won the parliamentary contest in the said constituency but was cheated out of victory during the collation of results which was characterized by violence.

Some voters who had converged at the collation centre to witness counting died after live bullets were used by the military in an attempt to restore order.

Among other things, the NDC candidate wanted the court to declare him the winner of the parliamentary elections held in December 2020.

He also asked that the Electoral Commission be compelled to collate polling station results in the constituency in the presence of the representatives of the candidates.

The NPP on the other hand has always maintained its candidate and current Member of Parliament (MP), Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah was legally elected as announced by the Electoral Commission, accusing the NDC of engaging in propaganda.

The party debunked the assertion and released a video in which the returning officer is seen declaring the results amidst confusion at the venue where the collation was done.

At a presser in Accra in December, Mr. Korsah’s campaign team members were emphatic that their candidate had won the election and showed pink sheets from the various polling centres to buttress their claim.

The Electoral Commission also corroborated that Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah polled 49,682 votes as against 49,205 votes for Christopher Beyere of the NDC.

Earlier, there was a heavy security presence at the Wenchi High Court ahead of the ruling.