The Electoral Commission (EC) has revealed that over 1 million registered voters have so far been verified since July 18, when the provisional voters’ register was opened for exhibition.
The exercise is to offer all Ghanaian registered voters the opportunity to check if their names are in the register.
But it will particularly allow persons who suspect their names may have been deleted because they registered with the National Health Insurance scheme cards, to check and plan for re-registration.
[contextly_sidebar id=”BGpsRdIvFXTmTNBnBt5HFG9a5hKiIVPx”]The Commission in a statement further noted that, the exercise has so far progressed smoothly. This is in spite of claims by some parties that the exercise was poorly publicized.
“Reports from all 29,000 centres across the country show that apart from the lower than expected response, the exercise is progressing smoothly. The Commission has deployed the adequate personnel and equipment to ensure that all registered voters spend as little time as possible at the various centres to check their details and get their fingerprints verified.”
The Supreme Court on July 5, 2016, ordered the Commission to delete names of NHIS registrants, following a ruling in 2014, where the use of the NHIS card was declared illegal for the purposes of registering as a Ghanaian voter.
The court’s order followed a suit filed by former National Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan, and one Evans Nimako.
EC to submit list of deleted NHIS registrants to parties
In a related development, the Commission has said it will soon furnish various political parties with the full list of persons whose names have been deleted from the voters’ register.
The EC’s move comes days after the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) alleged that the Commission deliberately removed the names of some of its members from the electoral roll.
The party alleged that a lot of its members have complained about the removal of their names from the roll, although they did not register with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana