Paul Ongili alias Babu Owino has filed an appeal against High Court ruling that annulled his election as Embakasi East MP. In his application filed through Lawyer Jackson Awele, the first time MP wants the Appellate Court to reversed the lower court’s decision and dismiss the election petition lodged by his competitor Francis Mureithi of Jubilee party.
“We pray that the Court be pleased to declare that the Owino Paul Ongili Babu was duly elected as the Member of the National Assembly, Embakasi East Constituency in accordance with the Constitution and the Elections Act,” Awele says in the court papers.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MP further wants the Appeals court to dismiss the ruling on scrutiny and recount of Embakasi East votes issued by Justice Joseph Sergon on February 12th..
Owino, who filed a notice of appeal on March 7th, says he wasn’t satisfied with the ruling by Justice Sergon, arguing that he erred in law in invalidating his victory without sufficient evidence.
He says that judge Sergon “ignored the relevant and binding legal standards for the evaluation of evidence in election petitions and in so doing ascribed excessive weight to irrelevant and weak evidence.”
“The Learned Judge erred in law in his finding that the results of the election were not verifiable on the basis of a sample of administrative errors in only 2 out of 208 polling stations in Embakasi East Constituency,” reads the court documents.
Babu lists the petitioner, Francis Mureithi, Embakasi East constituency Returning Officer Nicholas Buttuk and Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as first, second and third respondents respectively.
