Five persons have been arrested in possession of already thumb printed ballot papers, police in Kyebi in the Eastern region say.

The five were arrested at about 12:00pm at the Methodist primary school in Kyebi where they were thumb printing the ballots.

The ballots were thumb-printed for the NDC parliamentary candidate, Owuraku Amofa.

Joy News' Elton Brobby said it is unclear if the ballot papers had serial numbers authenticating it.

The identities of the five have not been disclosed by the police who say they are investigating the incident. The arrest follows a similar report in the Ashanti Region where thosands of ballots were said to have been thumb printed for the president.

The thumb-printed ballots in the Ashanti Region are said to be fake and do not have serial numbers.

The Kyebi area is the stronghold of the New Patriotic Party, where Atta Akyea is the incumbent. It was the same constituency the NPP flagbearer served for 12 years before becoming a presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, the incumbent MP is facing three challengers from the governing NDC and two opposition parties, the Convention People's Party (CPP) and the People's National Convention (PNC).