The Tamale High Court has passed judgment on the two cases brought before it on the results of the 2020 parliamentary elections in Savelugu and Zabzugu constituencies.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the 2020 election, Muhamed Abdul-Samed Gunu, filed a suit at the Tamale High Court challenging the validity of the election of Abdulai Jacob Iddrisu of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as parliamentary candidate for Savelugu Constituency.
In the Zabzugu case, the plaintiff, Alhassan Umar, raised issues of collation and the declaration not being held at the collation center.
Presiding judge, Justice Daniel Obeng in court on Friday said, the evidence presented in the Zabzugu case showed the Electoral Commission had followed due process in conducting the 2020 parliamentary elections held in the area.
He said he did not see any irregularities per the evidence presented in court that would substantially affect the outcome of the elections. Therefore, in his view, the petitioner had not made any case to warrant his reversal or annulling the results.
The judge held a similar observation on the Savelugu seat. Justice Obeng said there was no over-voting as the two parties in the cases had presented, but said there was an administrative error which was committed in filling the pink sheets.
Regarding the issue of voter non-verification, he stated that despite the fact that the pink sheet did not indicate that the voters had been verified, the evidence showed that each and every voter had polling agents certify that they had been verified.
The judge awarded a cost of GH₵40,000 for the first respondent and GH₵20,000 for the second respondent in both cases.
The NPP parliamentary candidate in the Savelugu Constituency and the NDC candidate in the Zabzugu Constituency had brought before the court alleged malpractices in the elections held in the two Constituencies and sought the court to look into the merits of the case and present its verdict.
Speaking after the verdict, the NPP parliamentary candidate for Zabzugu, John Bennam Jabah said the court has spoken the voice of the people of Zabzugu who endorsed his candidature.
He said the declaration by the court only confirmed that on December 7, 2020 the people of Zabzugu voted for him to represent them in Parliament.
Mr Bennam thanked the court and the people of his constituency. He said he was satisfied with the verdict.
The Northern Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Mohammed Abdul Salam on his part said the status quo had been maintained by the court.
”While the Zabzugu seat has been declared in favour of the NPP thereby maintaining the declaration by the electoral commission, the Savelugu elections have equally been declared in favour of the NDC parliamentary candidate who was declared by the EC, so as we speak this ruling does not affect anything happening in parliament, the numbers remain the same,” he said
He added that the party is satisfied with the outcome and would not appeal the ruling.