A case filed by independent presidential candidate Kofi Koranteng to challenge his disqualification by the Electoral Commission (EC) in the upcoming elections has been dismissed.
The case which was heard at the Human Rights Division 1 of the Accra High Court was dismissed on grounds that the aspirant failed to meet the set deadline for submission of documents to the EC.
However, the disqualified candidate who is obviously not happy about the ruling blamed the outcome on the ruling NPP and opposition NDC.
According to him, he has been sabotaged by both parties who fear he will amass a majority of the votes cast in the upcoming elections.
“This is a clear case of sabotage but this is for all Ghanaians to know that the system, is corrupt. This whole thing has been planned to get us off the ballot.
"It is obvious, everything from the beginning tells you that this was planned by the powers of the NPP and the NDC,” he said.
The disqualification and events thereafter
Mr Koranteng is among five presidential aspirants who were disqualified by the EC.
Their cases bordered on allegations of forgery of signatures and manufacturing of endorsees which the EC assured will be forwarded to the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further probe.
Following his disqualification, Mr Koranteng filed a suit to challenge the EC's decision, alleging that his administrative rights under Article 23 of the 1992 Constitution have been violated.
According to him, the Electoral Commission gave him a window of opportunity to re-submit the defective portions of his nomination forms; which he took and re-submitted on October 14, 2020.
He, therefore, expected that the Commission would have given him a fair and reasonable treatment as mandated by article 23 of the 1992 Constitution.
Meanwhile, the Commission's legal team denied the claim in court.
The EC, while responding to the allegation said Mr Koranteng admitting that he resubmitted his form on October 14 puts him out of time.
According to the Commission, all applicants were expected to file and correct anomalies detected within the stipulated period between October 5 and October 9 which he failed to do so.
On this grounds, the court presided over by Gifty Addo ruled in favour of the EC, stating categorically that, the Commission in no way violated the rights of Mr Koranteng as he claims.
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