Three men have been arrested and charged for allegedly disrupting the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) constituency executive elections at Bidieso in Obuasi, police said on Wednesday.

The Ashanti South Regional Police Command identified the suspects as Haruna Iddrisu, also known as Dole, Osei Boateng, also known as Nana Osei, and Charles Opoku, also known as Blackman.

Police said the three stormed the polling station on 12 July armed with offensive weapons, scattered ballot boxes and threatened election officials and voters during the constituency executive election.

A police reinforcement team was deployed to the scene and arrested the suspects, recovering an axe and a cutlass during the operation, the command said in a statement.

The three were arraigned before the Bekwai Circuit Court on charges of conspiracy to commit crime, namely rioting with weapons, and rioting with weapons.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The court granted each suspect bail in the sum of GHC50,000 with two justified sureties and adjourned the case to 10 August.

Police said investigations were continuing and efforts were underway to arrest other individuals suspected of involvement in the incident.

The arrests come after violence disrupted a number of NPP constituency executive elections in parts of the country, prompting increased security at some polling centres.