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Raj Modi's election challenged in court
16 Nov 2018 at 18:13hrs | Views
The High Court has set down the Bulawayo South election petition for 20 November at 10 AM. MDC Alliance losing candidate Muvirimi Francis Mangwendeza petitioned the High Court, seeking to overturn results of the elections in which he lost to Zanu PF candidate Rajesh Kumara Indukant Modi.
In a notice of set down for the election petition sent to Ncube Attorneys, the court said, "Take note that the above application has been set for 20 November at 1000hrs."
In his petition filed at the Bulawayo High Court by his lawyer Matshobana Ncube on August 10, Mangwendeza cited Modi and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) as respondents.
He alleged that the polls were tainted with a lot of irregularities.
Mangwendeza is seeking that the Bulawayo South seat be declared vacant to allow for fresh elections.
In his founding affidavit, Mangwendeza said he was selected as a candidate for the MDC Alliance in the constituency.
He said on July 3 Zec allegedly published a malicious statement declaring that he had withdrawn from the race without his knowledge and verification.
"The applicant said this de-campaigned him and those who supported him would have thought he was no longer in the race. He said his loss in the July 30 elections might have been affected by Zec's declaration."
He claimed to have discovered the anomaly on July 28 during the inspection of ballot papers.
"It is during such inspection that I realised some ballot papers for the MP did not have my name on them as a candidate," Mangwendeza submitted.
"I raised this issue with second respondent (Zec) s personnel and they confirmed that my name was missing in some ballot papers. In that regard, one B Sibanda purported to cancel those ballot papers which had my name missing. On July 29, it turned out that more ballot papers had my name missing in ward 21 and ward 6. Again, the second respondent undertook to cancel out such ballot papers."
Some ballot papers in Bulawayo South did not have Mangwendeza on them. Several ballot books were removed from the Constituency because of this error.ZEC erroneously published an advertisement claiming that Mangwendeza had withdrawn from election. He never did.
If Mangwendeza wins the petition, Modi will lose his seat and the Deputy Minister position.
In a notice of set down for the election petition sent to Ncube Attorneys, the court said, "Take note that the above application has been set for 20 November at 1000hrs."
In his petition filed at the Bulawayo High Court by his lawyer Matshobana Ncube on August 10, Mangwendeza cited Modi and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) as respondents.
He alleged that the polls were tainted with a lot of irregularities.
Mangwendeza is seeking that the Bulawayo South seat be declared vacant to allow for fresh elections.
In his founding affidavit, Mangwendeza said he was selected as a candidate for the MDC Alliance in the constituency.
He said on July 3 Zec allegedly published a malicious statement declaring that he had withdrawn from the race without his knowledge and verification.
"The applicant said this de-campaigned him and those who supported him would have thought he was no longer in the race. He said his loss in the July 30 elections might have been affected by Zec's declaration."
He claimed to have discovered the anomaly on July 28 during the inspection of ballot papers.
"It is during such inspection that I realised some ballot papers for the MP did not have my name on them as a candidate," Mangwendeza submitted.
"I raised this issue with second respondent (Zec) s personnel and they confirmed that my name was missing in some ballot papers. In that regard, one B Sibanda purported to cancel those ballot papers which had my name missing. On July 29, it turned out that more ballot papers had my name missing in ward 21 and ward 6. Again, the second respondent undertook to cancel out such ballot papers."
Some ballot papers in Bulawayo South did not have Mangwendeza on them. Several ballot books were removed from the Constituency because of this error.ZEC erroneously published an advertisement claiming that Mangwendeza had withdrawn from election. He never did.
If Mangwendeza wins the petition, Modi will lose his seat and the Deputy Minister position.
Source - Byo24News
