Voting at the Tudor Village Hall polling station in Mvita, Mombasa County, was temporarily disrupted after chaos erupted following claims of vote fraud.
Voters supporting different political camps hurled stones at each other before police intervened. A National Youth Service (NYS) officer was injured in the chaos and was rushed to hospital for treatment.
Mr Omar Shallo, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate for the Mvita Parliamentary seat, and Tudor ward MCA candidate Samir Bhalo were arrested following the chaos and taken to the Makupa Police Station, where they were being held.
“My colleague and I were raising concerns after receiving information that some voters were allowed to have more than one ballot paper.
The police instead intervened and arrested us,” said Mr Shallo.
He said they received the information from their agents at the Tudor village station.
A policeman clears the Makupa police station reception area where Mr Omar Shallo, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate for the Mvita Parliamentary seat, and Tudor ward MCA candidate Samir Bhalo, are in custody.
Photo credit: Kevin Odit I Nation
“Upon reaching there, we found out that some fishy activities were going on. People started attacking us,” Mr Shallo added.
The candidates’ lawyer, Asli Ousman, told Nation.Africa that the two had not been accused of committing any offence.
“They are in police custody and we are waiting for the local police boss and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to tell us what wrong they have committed,” Ms Ousman said by phone.
Police were yet to address the issue.
Mr Shallo said he had not cast his vote at his Fort Jesus polling station in Mvita constituency.
The Independent, Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Mombasa Returning Officer Swalha Yusuf was forced to intervene and calm the situation.
She assured the voters and IEBC officials that normalcy would be restored at the polling station and voting would resume.
The official said security personnel will be doubled at the polling station.
