Nakawa West Mp Ssenyonyi
The Civil Division of the High Court will rule today October 14, 2021 on an election petition filed by City businessman Mukesh Shukla challenging the victory of the Nakawa west Member of Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, in the January 14 polls.
Mukesh, who came sixth in the race, challenged a decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to declare Ssenyonyi as the winner in the parliamentary elections held in Nakawa West. In a petition filed on March 19, 2021, Mukesh accused Ssenyonyi of falsifying the election results.
He also alleged that EC faulted based on Declaration of Result Forms (DR Forms) that were not signed or witnessed by the presiding officers to declare Ssenyonyi winner.
According to Mukesh, Ssenyonyi was nominated as Joel Besekezi Ssenyonyi and yet, his academic records indicate that he is Joel Besekezi.
High Court Judge in Kampala Isaak Muwata will deliver judgment in the election petition.
Both the petitioner (Mukesh) and respondent (Ssenyonyi) appeared in court for cross-examination. However, the returning officer Nancy Birungi, failed to respond to summons over alleged anomalies in DR forms, as raised by Shukla, because she was reportedly bedridden after contracting Covid-19.
Nakawa West Mp Ssenyonyi
But justice Muwata advised the petitioner’s lawyers to raise their concerns against the EC in their final written submissions by October 11, 2021.
Ssenyonyi vied for the Nakawa West Parliamentary seat on the National Unity Platform party ticket defeating eleven other contenders.
He polled 31,653 votes followed by his National Resistance Movement (NRM) rival, Margaret Zziwa Nantongo, who came second with 9,450 votes. In third place was Kenneth Paul Kakande with 2,780 votes and the Forum for Democratic Change candidate, Wilberforce Kyambadde, in fourth with 1,512 votes. Independent candidate, Acer Godfrey Okot, took the fifth position with 931 votes.
Shukla Mukesh Babubhai brought up the rear with 806 votes.
