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The Tamale High Court presided by Justice Daniel Obeng, after hearing the Savelugu parliamentary election petition filed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the 2020 election, Muhamed Abdul-Samed Gunu has dismissed the case.

According to the judge, evidence showed that there was no over-voting in the 2020 parliamentary election as claimed by the NPP candidate but rather administrative human errors which did not affect the outcome of the results to warrant the court to annul the results.

The Court however awarded a cost of GHS 40,000 in favor of the 2nd respondent, Abdulai Jacob Iddrisu, the National Democratic Congress(NDC) Member of Parliament for the Savelugu constituency.

The court again awarded a cost of GHS 20,000 in favor of the 1st respondent which is the Electoral Commission.

The Savelugu New Patriotic Party(NPP) parliamentary candidate for the 2020 parliamentary election filed a petition at the Tamale High Court challenging the validity of the election of Abdulai Jacob Iddrisu of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Savulugu constituency of the Northern region under the parliamentary elections held on December 7, 2020.

The respondents of the petition are the Electoral Commission( 1st Respondent) and Abdulai Jacob Iddrisu(2nd Respondent) in the case.

Mr. Gunu in the parliamentary elections held on December 7, 2020 polled 19,478 votes while Alhaji Abdulai Jacob Iddris, the NDC candidate secured 19, 577 votes.

The petitioner Muhamed Abdul-Samed Gunu is claiming that the purported election of the 2nd respondent as Member of Parliament for the Savelugu constituency is invalid, owing to widespread malpractices and irregularities which affected the outcome of the impugned election.

The NPP Savelugu parliamentary candidate said the overarching of aspiration of the 1st respondent is to conduct elections that are free, fair and transparent in order to reflect the will of the people, protect the rights of candidates and inspire confidence in the democratic experiment that the republic has conducted under the fourth Republican Constitution since 1992.

He said the elections were vitiated by gross and widespread electoral malpractices that substantially and materially affected the results of the election as declared by 1st respondent in favour of 2nd respondent.

The petitioner said that there manifested an egregious violation of neutrality, transparency, and fairness at the D/A primary polling station at Kadia, which substantially and materially affected the results of the election as declared by 1st respondent in favor of 2nd respondent when 1st respondents officer, a ballot box issuer surreptitiously inserted several already printed ballot sheets, not the situated ballot boxes.

The petitioner says that when valid votes cast at polling stations, where voting was carried out in accordance with the law and in compliance with the regulations governing of the conduct of the 2020 parliamentary elections, are collated, petitioner herein is the lawful winner of the 2020 parliamentary election for the Savelugu constituency.

He added that in consequence of the above-stated constitutional and statutory violation, infractions, irregularities and malpractices, 1st respondent declared results for the parliamentary elections far in excess of the actual votes validly cast, thereby subverting the sovereign will of the electorate contrary to the preamble and Articles1(1) and 42 of the constitution, 1992.

The NPP parliamentary candidate for the Savelugu constituency prays that the Tamale High Court declares that Abdulai Jacob Iddrisu, 2nd respondent herein and National Democratic Congress(NDC) parliamentary candidate on account of votes that ought to have been validly declared is not the validly elected Member of Parliament for the Savelugu constituency.

In a related development, the Tamale High Court presided by Justice Daniel Obeng, has dismissed the Zabzugu parliamentary election petition which was filed by Mr. Umar Alhassan of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He awarded a cost of Gh 20,000 to the Electoral Commission as well as Gh
Gh 40,000 to Mr. John Bennam Jabaah, the New Patriotic Party(NPP) Member of Parliament for the Zabzugu constituency.

Both the New Patriotic Party(NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are satisfied with the outcome of the parliamentary election petition involving Zabzugu and Savelugu.

There was however massive security beefed up at the Tamale High Court premises over the Savelugu and Zabzugu parliamentary election petition.