The Supreme Court has dismissed an application filed by John Dramani Mahama, the 2020 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, in the ongoing Election Petition hearing requesting to inspect documents of the Electoral Commission.
The documents Mr. Mahama had wanted to inspect included the original constituency presidential election result collation forms for all constituencies, constituency presidential election results summary sheet, regional presidential election summary sheets for all regions, and the declaration of the presidential results form.
But the application was objected to by lawyers of the respondents.
They described the application as misconceived. The lawyer for the 1st Respondent argued that the petitioner has all carbonated copies of the said documents hence such a request was untenable.
Also, the lead counsel for the 2nd Respondent, Mr. Akoto Ampaw objected to the application saying the burden of proof is on the petitioner and that he cannot use the backdoor to adduce evidence from the respondents.
Akoto Ampaw further argued that the timing of the application and the failure of the petitioner to produce documents and evidence of his own denies him the right to the application.
The ruling
The apex court in ruling on the application dismissed same saying the threshold of necessity has not been met by lawyers of John Mahama.
