Serious allegations of vote omission, irregular tallying, and non-compliance with electoral laws have been placed before the High Court in Mukono as NRM candidate Birungi Kobusingye Jackline escalates her legal challenge over the Kayunga District Woman Member of Parliament election, insisting that the declared results do not reflect the true outcome of the January 15, 2026 polls.
At the centre of the petition is the claim that the Electoral Commission and its Returning Officer failed to comply with Sections 66, 69 and 72 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, resulting in what the petitioner describes as a fundamentally flawed tallying process that altered the final outcome.
Kobusingye alleges that results from four polling stations were completely omitted, namely Bugerere High S.S, Kakiika Parents Primary School, Kangulumira C/U Primary School and Kasambya UMEA, which she says deprived her of valid votes that should have been included in the final declaration.
She further contends that results from an additional ten polling stations were either wrongly recorded, omitted or not reflected in the final tally sheets, including Mukondo Church, Bbale West S/C Headquarters, Nsuube Church of Uganda, Kabaku SDA Church, Baizo Trading Centre, Tweyagalire R/C Primary School, Kyerima C/U Primary School, Balokole Church, Wanteete Trading Centre and Nakakonge Centre.
According to her affidavit evidence, agents deployed at these polling stations were issued Declaration of Results forms showing significantly higher figures in her favour than what was eventually captured in the official tally.
Kobusingye maintains that based on the certified polling documents in the possession of her agents, she polled 3,543 votes in the disputed polling stations compared to 638 votes for Nakweede Harriet, a discrepancy she describes as evidence of manipulation and omission in the tallying exercise.
She argues that the Electoral Commission’s declared results, which credited Nakweede with 38,547 votes against her 37,246 votes, were therefore built on incomplete and inaccurate data.
She further asserts that the alleged errors were not minor or administrative in nature but substantial enough to affect the outcome of the election. In her view, once the omitted and disputed results are properly accounted for, the final tally shifts in her favour to 40,881 votes against Nakweede’s 38,390 votes, making her the rightful winner of the contest.
She also argues that the declared winning margin of 1,301 votes collapses once the contested polling station results are included, insisting that she was unlawfully deprived of more than 3,000 valid votes.
The petitioner, who previously filed a similar complaint before the Chief Magistrates Court and lost, is now asking the High Court to intervene, arguing that the lower court failed to fully interrogate the discrepancies in the tallying process.
She is seeking a court-ordered recount of votes from the ten disputed polling stations on grounds that the ballot boxes are secure and available for verification.
Kobusingye is also seeking a declaration that Nakweede Harriet was not validly elected Woman Member of Parliament for Kayunga District, an order nullifying the gazetted results, and a declaration that she herself is the duly elected candidate. She is further seeking costs of the petition.
To support her claims, she has lined up 19 witnesses, mostly polling agents who were stationed at the disputed polling stations, who are expected to testify on the issuance of Declaration of Results forms and the alleged inconsistencies in the final tally.
She has also submitted National Identity Cards, certified tally sheets, Declaration of Results forms from both Electoral Commission officials and her agents, and appointment letters for her polling agents as evidence before court.
The High Court is expected to first determine whether the alleged omissions and irregularities were substantial enough to affect the outcome of the election before considering whether to order a recount or nullify the declared results.
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