The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has admonished the Electoral Commission to desist from deactivating any of the Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) used in the conduct of the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.
According to the party, “this is a caution to all electoral officers who disobey this unlawful directive or face prosecution”.
In a statement signed by the National Democratic Congress’s Director of Elections, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, the party indicated, it is explicitly informed the Commission upon directives is set to deactivate the BVDs in violation to electoral laws.
“It has come to the attention of the National Democratic Congress that the Electoral Commission through Dr. Yaw Ofori Adjei has directed that all biometric devices used in the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections should be deactivated. This directive is illegal because Regulation 47 (3) of CI 127 states that “The Commission shall, subject to the provisions of these Regulations, (a) retain for a year, documents forwarded to the Commission; and (b) destroy the documents after a year unless otherwise directed by a court”,the statement cited.
The party further asserted that unless otherwise directed by a court of competent jurisdiction, all records related to elections must be retained and preserved for a period of one year.
“It is public knowledge that we in the NDC have disputed the election results. We, therefore, view this illegal directive to deactivate all biometric devices as a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence related to the non-verification of voters in the elections.
“We wish to serve notice that this directive is illegal and constitutes an electoral offence punishable, upon conviction, by two years imprisonment or five hundred penalty units or both”, they added.
They, therefore, beseech the EC to take steps to preserve all relevant documents related to the elections as required by the law.
Read the full statement below:
