The Electoral Commission (EC) says it has received a writ of summons seeking to declare the March 3 District Assembly (DA) election unconstitutional and of no legal effect.
Joined to the writ of summons is the Attorney-General’s Department.
According to the Director of Communications at the EC, Christian Owusu Parry, the Commission has received the writ and forwarded to its lawyers for the necessary advice and action.
“We have been served with the writ and the lawyers know the processes so they will handle the matter,” he said in an interview, yesterday.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, also a lawyer, acting for and on behalf of his client, Benjamin Eyi Mensah filed the suit at an Accra court.
Benjamin Eyi Mensah, a fisherman claimed he had been denied an opportunity to file his nomination to contest the elections despite meeting all conditions to be registered as a candidate because the EC closed nomination before the maturation of Constitutional Instrument (CI) 85.
CI 85 is a legal instrument which seeks to demarcate electoral boundaries for the District Assembly Elections in 2015. In all, 6,156 electoral areas have been created.
Mr Mensah sought to contest as an Assemblyman for the Eyipeh Electoral Area within the Effutu District.
The plaintiff (Mr. Mensah), in his writ, is seeking the court to order the EC to reopen nominations to enable him and other law-abiding citizens to file their nomination papers to participate in the elections.
In an earlier interview, Afenyo-Markin said all attempts to get the EC to include his client in the process proved futile, hence the decision to go to court.
He dismissed suggestions that the court action was an attempt to disrupt the elections and rather accused the Commission of breaching the provisions of constitution and refusing to adhere to the rules governing the conduct of the elections.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin said although his client had paid his tax, filled his forms and was awaiting the passage of CI85, to submit his nomination the EC closed on Friday,December 21, last year before the maturity of the CI.
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