NPP Delagates Conference: Confusion rocks voting at Ashanti Region TESCON centre

Confusion erupted at the Ashanti Region TESCON polling area during the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) national delegates congress after some delegates struggled to locate their names on the Electoral Commission’s album.

The situation left several members of the Tertiary Students Confederacy of the NPP (TESCON) waiting to vote, with some expressing fears that they could be denied the opportunity to cast their ballots.

The agitated delegates chanted, “We are voting,” as tensions rose at the polling area.

The incident occurred about five and a half hours into the election, which began around 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 3.

According to JoyNews reporter Nana Yaw Gyimah, police personnel intervened to restore order while Electoral Commission officials worked to resolve the concerns.

Officers cordoned off the area and directed the delegates back into orderly queues as efforts continued to address the confusion.

However, the National Coordinator of TESCON dismissed reports that the album containing the names of Ashanti Region delegates was missing, explaining that the problem stemmed from confusion over the designated polling centres.

He said the region has 50 TESCON institutions, whose representatives were expected to vote at three centres labelled A, B and C.

“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 also rejected suggestions that the album had gone missing during the voting process.

“No, no, no. That’s never the case. It’s been here since morning,” he said.

He maintained that all 50 TESCON representatives from the Ashanti Region had their names captured in the EC’s sub-album and would be given the opportunity 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.

Calm has since been restored at the polling area, with voting continuing.

Meanwhile, voting had ended at some other centres, where election officials had begun counting ballots.