The Supreme Court will today, 16th April, begin sitting on the election petition brought before it by the flag bearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party, challenging the outcome of the December 2012 polls. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is seeking to overturn the declaration of President John Mahama as winner of the said elections, citing widespread irregularities during the conduct of the polls. Jointly with his running mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and party Chairman Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, the flag bearer has requested the court to annul 4,670,504 of the valid votes cast during the election at 11,916 polling stations where the alleged irregularities took place. The Court narrowed the essence of the petition to two, based on which they would give their ruling after parties in the case have advanced their arguments. First of all, the court will establish whether or not there were statutory violations, irregularities, omissions and malpractices in the 2012 general elections and then determine whether these affected the results of the election. The first and third respondents (President Mahama and the National Democratic Congress) have filed affidavits of witnesses they intend to call. It is however unclear if the second respondent, the Electoral Commission - has also responded to the affidavits filed by the petitioners. The State Broadcaster, GTV, is expected to broadcast the hearing live. Meanwhile Joy News’ Beatrice Adu who was at the Supreme Court early Tuesday morning, reported there is tight security there. She reported spotting a number of policemen in front of the court as well as over a hundred fully-armed security men within the premises of the Supreme Court. Some entrances to the court, she added, had been barricaded and no crowd has gathered at the place yet.