The Supreme Court has ordered the Electoral Commission to expunge from the current voters’ register the names of all persons who registered and voted in the 2012 elections, with the National Health Insurance card as a proof of identity.
In the ruling today, [Thursday] May 5, the Supreme Court, presided over by Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, also ordered the Commission to take steps to re-register the persons whose names would be deleted by ensuring that they use the authorized process to get their names back onto the electoral roll.
Background
[contextly_sidebar id=”sjxkdwpYZciUveAe99VxG0aB7UdQHrR1″]In 2014, Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako won a similar suit in which the Supreme Court unanimously granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Electoral Commission from using the National Health Insurance Card as an identity card for voter registrations.
The Supreme Court granted the reliefs which were sought by the two over the EC’s use of the NHIS Card as a proof of qualification to register.
They two were seeking true and proper interpretation of Article 42 of the Constitution in relation to the use of the NHIS card as a proof of qualification to register as a voter pursuant to Public Elections.
May 5 2016 ruling
Following the 2014 ruling that banned the use of the NHIS cards for registration, Abu Ramadan went back to the Supreme Court this year, seeking among other reliefs a declaration that the voters’ register was not credible for the polls in November.
His arguments were that, those who registered with the NHIS card still had their names in the register as well as some minors and other ineligible persons.
But the Supreme Court in its ruling today [Thursday] May 5, instead ordered the deletion of the names of all those who registered with the NHIS cards. It also asked the Electoral Commission to remove the names of all other ineligible persons including the names of deceased persons.
It however said it could not by virtue of the few ineligible names on the register; declare the entire register inappropriate for the elections as the applicants were seeking.
It rather asked the EC to take immediate steps to clean the voters’ register.
The court however did not give the EC a specific timeline for the cleaning with barely six months to the polls.
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AfanyiDadzie