Accra, Ghana — The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described the petition challenging the election of President John Mahama as "frivolous" and asked the Supreme Court to dismiss it.

The party, also affirmed in its reply to the petition brought by the defeated presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party and two others that the suit "was an afterthought and in bad faith and should be discountenanced by the apex court."

Following the ruling of the Supreme Court on January 22nd, which granted the NDC leave to join the suit as a respondent, the party on Monday evening filed its statement of defence, debunking the claims of the petitioners.

In the statement of defence, the ruling party contended among other things that the suit was contrived to "deny certain Ghanaians of their constitutional right without any justification."

The NDC, which is the 2nd respondent in the matter, argued that the petitioners through their actions and the actions of their agents duly acquiesced to the conduct of the election. According to the statement, the action was borne out of the fact that the result was unfavourable to them. The 2nd respondent maintained that its candidate in the disputed election won convincingly, by defeating the 1st petitioner in eight out of the ten regions of the country.

The petitioners, the NPP presidential candidate in the December elections, Nana Akufo-Addo, his running-mate, Dr. Mahammad Bawumia and the National Chairman of the party, Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey had alleged that the election was marred by fraud.

The petitioners filed the suit on 28th of December, 2012 after they had rejected the declaration of President Mahama as the valid winner of the polls.