The High Court on Monday ordered for a recount and scrutiny of all votes cast in Embakasi East parliamentary race.
The court, through Justice Francis Tuiyot, delivered the ruling in a petition filed by Jubilee's Francis Mureithi challenging the election of Babu Owino.
Mureithi had told the court that the forms were not legible, making it difficult to determine whether the results in Forms 35A corresponded with those in Form 35B.
Through lawyer Ham Lagat, Mureithi also told the court that there were errors in Form 35B.
[caption caption="Francis Mureithi, who lost the Embakasi East MP election in August"]
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Lagat, in his submissions, told Justice Sergon that Babu Owino admitted in court that he voted in a polling station where he was not registered as a voter.
He added: “This is not an isolated case but only an example of the 3rd Respondent’s (IEBC) officials allowing people to vote without being identified as voters electronically or manually, which was widespread in Embakasi East Constituency."
The court also heard that there were instances where votes were increased in favour of the defendant, and deflation of his client’s votes.
Lagat also maintained that the Forms 35A lacked the official IEBC stamp, while others did not bear signatures of the presiding officer.
However, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission admitted that there were errors in a number of forms, but noted that the errors could not be the basis for scrutiny.
[caption caption="Raila Odinga, Junet Mohammed and Babu Owino at Milimani Court for Embakasi East "]
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The Nairobi county election manager, Mr Joseph Mele Eroo, argued that lack of stamps in some of the statutory forms was not a basis for scrutiny in an election petition.
