Three people have been arrested and one person injured after a group of well-built men stormed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Bantama Constituency election at the Kumasi Cultural Centre, disrupting the voting process.
The suspects arrested by the police include the constituency organiser, Shaibu Bamba, and the Adoato polling station chairman, Abdullah Abubakar, along with a third individual.
The disturbances began shortly after the Regional Police Commander visited the venue and was departing.
About seven heavily built men stormed the centre and began destroying electoral materials, including the ballot box, ballot papers, and plastic tables and chairs.
The election, which involved 1,218 delegates, had already been hit by controversy.
Three party members had previously secured an injunction against the process, protesting the removal of their names from the party’s voter album.
Due to the legal dispute, the Electoral Commission (EC) declined to supervise the poll, forcing the party leadership to conduct the election independently.
It was during this self-supervised process that the violence broke out.
The arrested suspects have been taken to the Regional Police Command for questioning, while the injured victim was rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) for emergency treatment.
The police have since declared the election centre a crime scene and have launched a full investigation into the disturbances.
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