•Jalan'go Midiwo and Nicholas Kut Ochogo challenged the outcome of the ODM primaries held in Gem and Alego-Usonga constituencies last Wednesday.
•Official results announced by the party at the Siaya Institute showed that Midiwo lost to Elisha Odhiambo of Gem.
Image: JOSIAH ODANGA
Busia county and Siaya residents will know the verdict of the appeals lodged before the ODM National Election Board by 9 am on Wednesday, April 20.
Jalan'go Midiwo and Nicholas Kut Ochogo challenged the outcome of the ODM primaries held in Gem and Alego-Usonga constituencies last Wednesday.
Official results announced by the party at the Siaya Institute showed that Midiwo lost to Elisha Odhiambo of Gem.
In Alego-Usonga, Samuel Atandi beat his closet challenger Kut.
But the duo, upset by the results, moved to the party's appeals board seeking to have them nullified.
On Tuesday, Midiwo, who's Raila Odinga's cousin- Jalan'go Midiwo asked ODM's NEB to nullify the certificate issued to Odhiambo on account that the nominations were irredeemably flawed.
Kut on his part poked holes in the nomination process that gave Atandi the certificate saying the exercise was not transparent, not accountable and could not be verified.
Kut's lawyer Leonard Okanda told the appeal board that the nominations went against the elections laws that require the secrecy of the ballot to be protected.
"There were no polling booths and voters' free will to pick their leaders of choice was compromised," Okanda said.
Kut filed 32 grounds to support the appeal.
His lawyer told the three-member tribunal chaired by Fredrick Orego that his agents were denied entry into eight polling stations by supporters of the MP.
In four of them, Kut claimed his agents were thrown out.
Amongst the agents that were barred from the polling station included Dan Oyoo who was an agent at Karapul primary school and Aggrey Onyango who was the aspirant's chief agent.
He said the agents were to ensure there was transparency during the exercise.
"Incidents of violence were meted in a manner that disrupted the nomination. Julius Otieno was roughed up at Rapogi polling station by supporters of the MP," lawyer Okanda said.
The petitioner also told the tribunal that there was no voter register to verify the voters.
"There was nowhere in the Constituency where voters were verified using the register as required," the petitioners said adding that the whole exercise was done in favour of the MP.
"The MP failed to annex any register that was used to verify the voters in his affidavit. The nomination wasn't transparent and therefore not accountable," Kut's lawyer said.
Two voters - Maurine Herin Amuom and John Ogeya in a sworn affidavit said they were forced to vote for a person who was not of their choice.
"It is the free will of the voter that should decide an election and not the poll clerk's will like it happened," Kut said.
This he said substantially affected the outcome of the nomination.
"The exercise was a sham. Siaya municipal council hall which wasn't a polling station had results originate from it," lawyer Okanda for the petitioner said.
In his response Atandi, through his lawyer said the margin between him and the petitioner was an important factor in the appeal.
The MP also asked the petitioner n to provide proof that there was violence during the primaries.
His case advanced by lawyer Jackson Awele was that there was a heavy presence of police officers in all the eight polling stations where violence is said to have happened.
" Why didn't the petitioner report these happening to the returning officer?.. Were the incidents escalated to the presiding officers in the eight polling stations?" lawyer Awele said.
He claimed that the issue of Siaya municipal hall could have been an erroneous mistake.
The petitioner had identified the social hall as a non-existent polling station whose results were part of the outcome of the primaries.
On vote tallying, the MP's advocate said some voters may have picked not to cast their ballot in favour of a candidate.
"There is no proof of violence or any election irregularities as claimed by the appellant. None of the evidence adduced meets the set threshold," Atandi's lawyer said.
"Those incidents of acts of violence, as tabled by the petitioner didn't substantially affect the outcome of the polls," he said.
He said the race attracted three candidates and it was strange that only the appellant was complaining that his agents were barred from the tallying centre.
"The absence of the agents could not invalidate the results as announced at the tallying centre. No cogent evidence has been provided to support the allegations of voters voting without being verified," lawyer Awele stated.