The Deputy Director of Elections and IT for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Rashid Tanko-Computer, has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of manipulating the voter’s register, describing it as a covert strategy to influence the outcome of the upcoming elections.
In an interview with Joy News, he expressed serious concerns over the EC’s recent handling of the electoral roll, claiming that discrepancies and irregularities in the register could pave the way for election malpractice.
“The EC is manipulating the voter’s register, and since observers are not noticing these changes, they assume everything is in order. But by the time they realize what’s happening, it’s too late—the register has already been tampered with. As a result, we could head into the election using a tainted register, allowing illegalities to occur,” Dr Tanko-Computer asserted.
The NDC official further criticised the EC for allegedly bypassing legal procedures for voter transfers.
He explained that while CI 91 governs the overall voter registration process, transfers should be conducted under CI 127, Regulation 22. According to Dr Tanko-Computer, the EC has ignored this provision.
“Voters are required to appear before a returning officer with their voter ID to request a transfer. For instance, if a voter moves from Accra to Kumasi and wishes to vote in Bantama, they must appear in person, provide biometric data, and have their details updated accordingly,” he explained.
However, he accused the EC, under the leadership of Chairperson Jean Mensa, of transferring voters remotely using only voter ID numbers and photographs, without any face-to-face interaction with returning officers. “For the first time, we are seeing voter transfers happening from the EC office, without voters physically appearing before officers,” he added.
Dr Tanko-Computer also raised alarm over what he called the existence of multiple versions of the voter’s register. During a meeting between the NDC and the EC, the party discovered that the register presented to them was different from the one made public.
“We realised the EC was operating with at least three versions of the voter’s register. When we questioned this and requested the corrected version, the EC failed to provide us with any updates. It seems they are working with information we are not privy to,” he stated.
The NDC has called on the Electoral Commission to address these concerns urgently, warning that the credibility of the entire election process could be compromised if the discrepancies are not resolved.
He urged the EC to provide full transparency in their operations and release an accurate and unified version of the voter’s register to all political stakeholders.
The NDC held a nationwide protest on Tuesday, September 17, demanding that the EC must allow an independent audit of the register.
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