Confusion broke out at the Ashanti Region TESCON polling area during the New Patriotic Party’s national delegates congress after some delegates struggled to locate their names on the Electoral Commission’s album.
The development left several TESCON members waiting to cast their ballots, triggering agitation among the affected delegates who feared they could be disenfranchised.
“We are voting,” they chanted.
The confusion emerged about five and a half hours into the election, which began around 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 3.
According to JoyNews’ Nana Yaw Gyimah, police moved in to restore order as EC officials worked to resolve the issue.
Police cordoned off the area and directed the agitated delegates back into orderly queues while efforts were made to address their concerns.
However, the National Coordinator of TESCON dismissed reports that the album containing the names of Ashanti Region TESCON delegates was missing.
He explained that the region has 50 TESCON institutions, with representatives expected to vote at three designated polling centres labelled A, B and C.
According to him, the confusion arose because some delegates initially went to the wrong polling centre and could not find their names before eventually locating them at the appropriate centre.
“There is no issue. The whole TESCON album for the country, you know, they are all supposed to vote in their various regions. So Asante region has 50 TESCON institutions.
“But our polling centres were three: A, B, C. So as to where exactly they were supposed to vote was the issue. They went to A and then they didn’t find their names. They came to B and they didn’t find their names and came to C to see their names.
“And now they are voting. That was the only challenge. And it’s been resolved that they are voting now,” he said.
The coordinator further insisted that the TESCON album had been available throughout the electoral process.
“No, no, no. That’s never the case. It’s been here since morning,” he said when asked whether the album was missing.
He explained that all 50 TESCON representatives from institutions in the Ashanti Region were captured on the EC’s sub-album and would be allowed to vote.
“As I’m talking to you, you can see the voting processes have started. None of them will be disenfranchised. All the 50 people here, their names are captured on the EC sub-album. That is how come they’ve been allowed to be here,” he said.
Police have since restored calm at the polling area, with voting continuing.
Meanwhile, voting had ended at some other polling centres, where officials had begun counting ballots.
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