This means, Kwaku Duah would no longer be represented by a falcon, as advertised earlier in a draft notice of poll.
The election management body explained that it did not approve the notice of poll in which the two independent candidates had the same name, attire, and symbol [bird] for the said election.
It said the two independent candidates bearing the same name, Kwaku Duah, presented photographs of themselves in Kente and a picture of a bird as their symbol to the Commission’s District Officer in Kumawu.
The EC in a statement said based on this, a draft Notice of Poll, bearing the photograph of the Independent Candidates with similar names, attires, and symbols was prepared and submitted to the Commission for approval.
It was neither approved by the Commission nor gazetted. A Notice of Poll becomes legal and binding only after it is gazetted. The version circulating on social media was never gazetted. It was a mere draft reflecting the photographs and symbols presented to the District Officer.
When this anomaly came to the notice of the Commission, the second Independent Candidate was advised to change his symbol since he was the last to submit his Nomination Form, it added.
The EC further stated that when the second independent candidate was asked to change his symbol, he refused, compelling the EC to apply Regulation 14(1) (b) and (c) of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020, C.I. 127 which allows the EC to use its own discretion to choose a symbol for a candidate in such a situation.
The by-election in Kumawu was necessitated by the demise of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP), Philip Basoah.
He died at the age of 53 at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
Source:
www.pulse.com.gh
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