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‘No Aspirant Can Detect Who You Vote For’ - EC Assures NPP Delegates Ahead of Jan. 27th Primaries

• By Ebenezer Albidar Narh
• January 24, 2024
• 0

The Electoral Commission (EC) has allayed the fear of some NPP delegates who are being suppressed, intimidated and threatened by some incumbent Members of Parliament to either vote for them in the upcoming parliamentary primaries or risk losing their positions as polling station executives.  

The MPs who are seeking to be retained are allegedly insisting on the delegates that they had special gadgets to detect whether or not they (delegate) voted for them.

But the Electoral Commission has revealed that there is no way any political party or any candidate can use any foreign device or manipulations to find out or determine which candidate a delegate voted for.

According to the Northern Regional Director of the EC, Mr. Lucas Yiryil voting is done secretly. Adding that, the ballot papers have unique numbers that can never be duplicated anywhere or by anybody. “In addition to the unique number, there is also a unique validation stamp which is applied on every ballot paper that is legally issued out to any voter”.

Mr. Lucas Yiryil was speaking on a local radio station in Yendi in reaction to some alleged intimidation being played out in the Yendi Constituency by the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama. The MP, according to some delegates, is threatening to remove their names from the party’s register if any of them voted against him in the upcoming parliamentary primaries.

Alhaji Farouk is believed to have informed the delegates that he had acquired a modern gadget from China, with which he could sit at the comfort of his home to detect how any of the delegates would vote and who they would vote for.

However, the Northern Regional EC Boss indicated that in case of any doubt or controversy, a candidate or their agent must ensure that the ballot papers being issued at a particular polling center are the assigned ones with their unique numbers and assigned validation stamps.

“So let me emphasize that there is no way any aspirant or candidate can detect a vote by any voter. You see we are dealing with a very large number of delegates – let say 500 or 1000 delegates in one constituency. The duplicate of every ballot paper is lodged with the Electoral Commission after counting and declaration. So, it is only the EC officer who has access to that counterfeit or duplicate. So, if delegates who voted are 500 or 1000 how do you determine that this person voted for me or did not vote for me”.

 Mr. Lucas Yiryil indicated that the only way any person or aspirant could determine who a delegate voted for, is when there are apparently artificial loopholes, but with strict observation and vigilance such anomalies he said, could be easily detected by the agents of the aspirants.

He further indicated that under no circumstance would the EC permit any aspirant to have access to the countered ballot papers to undergo such verification to determine who did or did not vote for them.

The Northern Regional EC Director advised all the aspirants and their agents to be very observant to identify and report any foreign ballot papers or when they see strange initials or markings on the papers for immediate action to be taken.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama, the MP for Yendi Constituency for his comment proved unsuccessful as his phone was not reachable even at the time of filing this report.


Source: Melvin Nana Boateng