High Court nullifies Kpandai 2024 parliamentary election & orders fresh poll in 30 days
The Tamale High Court, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Brew Plange, has annulled the 2024 parliamentary election results for the Kpandai constituency and ordered a fresh poll within 30 days, following a successful legal challenge.
The petition was filed by National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate Daniel Nsala Wakpal, who claimed that the December 7, 2024, election was tainted by serious irregularities.
He alleged inconsistencies in Form 8A (the “pink sheet”) from 41 polling stations out of the total 152, arguing that these breaches violated Regulations 39 and 43 of the Public Elections Regulations (CI 127).
In its ruling, the court agreed that non compliance with electoral regulations materially affected the integrity of the vote. It has accordingly ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct a rerun of the parliamentary election in the entire constituency.
Matthew Nyindam
The sitting Member of Parliament for Kpandai is Matthew Nyindam of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who was declared the winner in the December vote.
This legal dispute did not emerge in a vacuum. On election day, tension erupted at the collation centre amid allegations of vote rigging by NDC supporters. Some reports say biometric verification devices (BVRs) were removed, ballots destroyed, and frustration boiled over, prompting the deployment of security forces.
In his judgment, Justice Plange intervened decisively, demanding that the EC restore credibility by organising a transparent re poll.
In the election of 2024, the NPP’s Matthew Nyindam secured 27,947 votes representing 53.47%, whereas the NDC’s Daniel Nsala Wakpal got 24,213 votes representing 46.33%.
A third contestant, Donkor Eric Nipani of the APC, polled a meagre 104 votes representing 0.20%.This means that between the NDC and NPP, the vote difference was 3,734.
Meanwhile, lawyers for the NPP candidate have indicated that they’ll file for a stay of execution pending an appeal.Source:myjoyonline.com
