Embakasi East MP Paul Ongili alias Babu Owino is set to know his fate tomorrow on an election petition filed by his competitor Francis Mureithi.
Babu vied on an ODM ticket while Mureithi vied on a Jubilee ticket.
The MP through his lawyer Jackson Awele in final submissions on Wednesday urged the court not to nullify his win over minor irregularities.
“You cannot have a petition that makes 100 allegations of irregularities and proves only one, and on this ground, I pray that the petition is dismissed,” he told Judge Joseph Sergon according to the Star.
He said a vote recount ordered by the court was free and fair as the court registrar in a report stated.
The report showed that Babu got 46, 817 votes against his rivals 42, 501 votes. The report was signed by High Court Deputy Registrars Esther Mburu and Mbayaki Wafula.
“The registrars are positive that the data collected and the report presented before the trial court will be helpful in determination of the election petition,” read part of the report.
The IEBC declared Babu the winner of the August 8 polls for Embakasi East Parliamentary race after garnering 46, 587 votes against Mureithi’s 42, 253.
However, Awele asked the court not to nullify the MP’s election due to mathematical errors by IEBC officials.
“I do not see how a presiding officer or IEBC clerk not having a chair to sit on during an election process can affect an outcome,” he said.
He added that from the submissions in the court, the election was conducted in accordance with the law and that the minor irregularities did not affect the final outcome of results.
Lawyer James Orengo still representing Babu said that the vote recount ordered by the court clearly showed he won by a big margin.
He also said that contrary to what the petitioner had said, there were no acts of violence at the tallying centre, a view also held by the returning officer.
But Mureithi’s lawyer Kiragu Kimani asked the court to nullify the election because it is not all about numbers.
“According to the constitution and Elections act, nullifying an election does not require the petitioner to establish his complaint or allegations,” Kimani told the court.