Seven aspirants have been cleared by the electoral agency to contest the Kibra Parliamentary mini-poll.
More hopefuls are expected to be cleared by 4pm today, when the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will close the vetting.
Among those who presented their nomination papers to IEBC were candidates fronted by Ford-Kenya and Amani National Coalition (ANC).
ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi took his party’s candidate Eliud Owalo on a meet-the-people tour in Kibra after the latter presented his papers.
Escorted candidate
Ford-Kenya's Moses Wetang'ula escorted his party candidate Khamisi Butichi to Kibra accompanied by several MPs.
Mr Wetang'ula said his party had suspended all other activities to focus on efforts to regain Kibra, adding that the constituency was once held by the party between 1993 and 1997 through Opposition leader Raila Odinga.
“We are going to work with Kibra people to reclaim the seat, which once belonged to our party,” said the Ford-Kenya leader.
He intimated that Mr Butichi should not be considered an inferior candidate despite his relatively unknown profile in politics.
Butichi will be facing stiff compensation from star footballer MacDonald Mariga and Benson Okoth - a brother to the late Ken Okoth.
Imran, as Benson Okoth is widely known, was last evening still fighting to save his candidacy after his win in the primaries was contested by Peter Orero.
Unfair advantage
Mr Orero, who is also the Principal of Dagoretti High School, said Imran had an unfair advantage after serving in the constituency office under his brother, where he got access to the list of party members.
It is only registered party members who participated in the contest in which Imran emerged victorious.
Other contestants cleared for the November 7 by-election are Malaseh Hamida of the United Green Movement, Editar Ochieng of Ukweli Party (associated with activist Boniface Mwangi) and Fridah Kerubo Kingara, who hopes to run as an independent candidate.
Narc-Kenya is also expected to sponsor a female aspirant.
Two hopefuls running as independents were turned back for lack of necessary documents to support their application.
