Number of voters in Kilgoris constituency cannot be established

Kilgoris parliamentary candidate Julius Sunkuli with his lawyer at Kericho High court on January 16,2018 during an election petition where he is challenging the declaration of Gideon Konchellah as the parliamentary seat winner. [Photo:Kipsang Joseph/Standard]

The number of people who voted in various polling stations in Kilgoris constituency in last August’s General Election cannot be established, a court heard yesterday.

Polling station diaries for various polling stations presented in court indicated differences between their entries and the figures in forms 35A.

The scrutiny of the diaries, which took the better part of the day during the hearing of a petition filed by a former envoy to China, Julius Sunkuli, indicated that there was a disparity in the number of total votes cast in comparison to what was entered in forms 35A.

The petition filed by Sunkuli on September 5, 2017, challenged the election of Gideon Konchellah as Kilgoris MP.

“At Kilgoris DEB polling station, 369 valid votes were cast, five were rejected. The polling station by 1pm indicated that there was a voter turnout of 306. No further indication was done to show any other turnout,” heard the court.

Due to the differences, there was an increase in number of voters in some cases and a reduction in others.

At Olepoipoi, the voter turnout according to the diary was 173 as at 1pm. However, the entry in Form 35A indicates that 152 had cast their votes after the station was closed and the votes tallied.

At Olemalit Primary School, the total number of valid votes cast according to Form 35A was 189. No votes were rejected or rendered spoilt.

However, according to the station diary, at 5pm 168 voters had cast their ballots.  It emerged that entries made in the diaries and forms 35A were not corresponding. Thomas Maito, the Jubilee Party chief agent, said he did not take a keen look at the diaries.