An Accra High Court has adjourned the hearing of the lawsuit filed by the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) over the filing fees the Electoral Commission (EC) is demanding from presidential and parliamentary nominees.
The adjournment followed the absence of the Attorney General in court despite being served with the suit.
The EC today sought to get the date for hearing originally set for the 11th of October abridged to today citing a possible delay of the Election calendar if the injunction is not dealt quickly.
Meanwhile the PPP has asked the EC to blame the Attorney General for the any possible delay of election calendar.
According to the Party, it has demonstrated commitment the case by appearing in court despite the late service of the suit.
The PPP filed an interlocutory injunction at the High Court on September 19 seeking to restrain the EC from going ahead with the receipt of filing fees from presidential and parliamentary candidates a day before the date scheduled for filing.
This injunction prevented the EC from receiving the filing fees of the various parliamentary and presidential hopefuls though it bizarrely accepted the filing fee of the PPP flagberer, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, who was represented by the party’s Chairman, Nii Allotey Brew Hammond.
The PPP, among other things, was seeking a declaration that Regulation 45 of C.I. 94 is discriminatory, arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.
The EC opened the nominations earlier in September and pegged the filing fees for presidential hopefuls at GHc 50,000 and that of parliamentary nominees at GHc 10,000.
Some aggrieved parties subsequently asked the EC to review the amount describing it as “exorbitant.”
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By Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana