The High Court has dismissed a case filed against the Independent Electoral Commission (IEBC) for allegedly ignoring guidelines during the importation of biometric voter identification (BVR) kits.
High Court Judge John Mativo ruled that there was no sufficient evidence to compel the electoral body to acquire alternative BVR kits.
The case was filed by United Nations Special rapporteur Maina Kiai, Khelef Khalifa and Tirop Kitur in April.
The trio argued that the identification devices that were procured by the electoral body were not verified and thus cannot be used in the elections.
They also faulted the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for failing in its duty to verify whether the devices were up to standard
In addition, they claimed that there was a possibility of rigging the elections as the devices have not been confirmed to be tamper-proof.
The trio pointed out the export law that states that IEBC ought to have acquired a pre-export certificate which shows that the items procured are by Kenyan standards.
The BVR kits will be used by the IEBC in identifying voters during the August 8 elections.
Meanwhile, IEBC still faces a major hurdle in the procurement of presidential ballot papers, a matter that will be decided tomorrow by the Court of Appeal.
IEBC wants the appellate court to quash the recent decision by the High Court that directed the poll body to issue a fresh tender for the presidential ballot paper.
