The race to select who will represent the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the St Catherine West Central seat stepped up another notch last Friday.

A group of supporters aligned to candidate Dr Christopher Tufton staged a protest in sections of Kitson Town voicing their support for the man and raising questions about the sterility of the voters list.

“We want the authorities to look into the this matter regarding the current voters list as we have made our checks and found some inconsistencies,” said Hyman Smith, a former councillor of the Ginger Ridge Division in the St catherine Parish Council .

Smith made the comment as he showed a copy of the list with the names of several individuals whom he said were not eligible to be placed on it.

He was representing a group of placard bearing protesters who gathered in Kitson Town Square calling for the JLP hierarchy to visit the constituency to get a first hand view of what was on the ground.

“Right now Dr Christopher Tufton is the man for the job and if he is not selected we can tell you from now that a lot of JLP supporters in this area will not be voting in the next election,” said Allan Robert, a farmer of the area.

“We have done our checks and found that there are a number of inconsistencies on the voters list and we want the matter to be looked into,” Hyman said.

He said that he was also disappointed in the delay in the process to have voters select their candidate in the constituency.

“We are convinced that someone is delaying the process for us to select Dr Tufton. We believe he is being sidelined but we can tell you if Dr Tufton is not selected to represent the JLP in this area the party will not be able to secure a victory. Tufton is the best choice to represent the party,” said Beverley Gordon, another protester.

The group of residents carried out the protest under the watchful eyes of the police who came out to ensure that law and order was maintained in the area.

The protest comes weeks after another set of supporters aligned to Councillor Devon Wint staged a protest of their own, demanding that Tufton backs down and allow Wint to contest the seat, considered a safe one for the JLP.

The JLP earlier this year confirmed that its Selection Committee had approved Wint, Kent Gammon and Tufton to seek the support of delegates, in a mission to become the candidate in the next general election.

That seat has been held by Dr Ken Baugh who will not be seeking re-election.

“The Labour Party has well established candidate selection procedures in place that allow for members to offer themselves for service. The three applicants are excellent candidates and we look forward to a smooth selection process,” said JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang.

In an earlier Jamaica Observer report, earlier Dr Chang had also dismissed concerns about the sterility of the voters’ list for the constituency election, arguing that the list being used for the election was registered by the constituency chairman and sitting MP, Dr Baugh, and cannot be changed by the JLP secretariat.

“There can be no valid question of the democratic process and all candidates have an obligation to adhere to this process which was agreed by them,” Dr Chang said.

“The party is not in the mood for any disruptions and we are not going to tolerate it. We are not at a place where we will be tolerating the discussion of internal party matters in the public and those who do so are not interested in building a strong JLP, but destroying the gains we have been making,” Chang stated in the report.