Court orders EC to revers 580 illegal voter transfers in Manhyia South

The Electoral Commission (EC) in the Ashanti Region is taking steps to remove approximately 580 names from the Manhyia South voter register, following a court order issued on Tuesday, September 24.

This action follows concerns raised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the constituency regarding irregularities discovered during the voter transfer process, prompting the party to seek legal interpretation.

Her Worship Deborah Gyaawa Donkor, presiding over the Kumasi Magistrate Court, delivered the ruling on Tuesday, instructing the EC to reverse the transfers and return the affected voters to their original constituencies.

Alhaji Haruna Alhassan, Secretary for the NPP in Manhyia South, expressed the party’s determination to ensure the court’s directive is followed. He also called on other NPP strongholds to carefully examine their voter registers for potential discrepancies.

“It was during the transfer that we, the NPP in the Manhyia South constituency, became conscious about certain things relative to the transfer of votes to the constituency. We became conscious because the transfers to the constituency were not normal to us, but per the LI, there was nothing we could have done… During the exhibition, we followed up and found out that at about five or six polling stations, out of the 107 polling stations we have in Manhyia South, there had been some abnormal transfers, he said, as quoted by citinewsroom.com.

Alhaji Haruna further highlighted a specific issue at St Louis Training College of Education, stating: “For example, we had about 150 transfers to St Louis Training College of Education… So we sent the matter to court and appeared before the court five times… Eventually, the court ordered that 580 people who were transferred to Manhyia South during the transfer period should be sent back to where their votes were originally… We are going to follow up on that and make sure the right thing is done.”

This ruling has raised concerns over the integrity of the voter transfer process, with political parties in other constituencies encouraged to review their registers for similar anomalies. The EC is expected to implement the court's directive in the coming days.

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