A member of the NDC legal team says the 2020 election petition was to prove that the integrity of the December 7 polls was marred by vote padding.

According to Abraham Amaliba, the two major political parties who attained maximum votes in the elections both "accused" the Electoral Commission of the same offence, and that was enough grounds to nullify the outcome of the elections.

"You heard the 2nd respondent's attorney, Mac Manu even before we went to court say that there was also vote padding for the petitioner. What this means is that it's the first time we're having the victor and the one who is alleged to have lost the elections, both accusing the EC of similar action.

"So [the case] was about trying to let the court understand that the integrity of this 2020 election has been affected by the vote padding," he said.

The comment comes as a response to an argument by a member of NPP's legal team, Nana Adjoa Adobea Asante that the petitioner in the 2020 election petition and his team could not justify their claim of vote padding in court.

Her comment also follows the dismissal of the 2020 election petition on grounds that "it has no merit."

She noted that the petitioner's claim of vote padding has no grounds since the figures presented to the court were not significant enough to overturn the outcome of the elections.

“When there’s a voter difference of about 500,000, how can 5,600 votes materially change the outcome of the elections?” Nana Adjoa said on the Super Morning Show, Friday.

However, Mr Amaliba argues that "vote padding, even if it is just one, goes to the integrity of the elections."

He cited a case in Malawi where "the election results were annulled by the apex court in Malawi, not because the infractions affected the results but on grounds that the infractions affected the integrity of the election."

"And that was what the samples the petitioner presented were supposed to convey to the court," he said.