Senatorial aspirant, Zani, beaten and arrested by cops in Diani

Khadijah Ngala (right) address journalists at Diani after she was elected as the Kwale County Women league leader during the ODM grassroots elections which were held at Ukunda in Diani within Kwale County, October 09, 2015. Looking on is Nicholas Zani (left) who was elected as the vice chairman for Kwale County. [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

Chaos erupted at Mwamanga Primary School polling station in Diani when a senatorial aspirant was beaten and arrested by police.

Nicholas Zani was attacked after he allegedly forced his way into Mwamanga polling station in Ukunda, Msambweni constituency, during the ODM nominations on Saturday evening.

The ODM primaries ended inconclusively on Saturday after the tallies for Msambweni constituency were cancelled due to irregularities.

Although the party has released results for parliamentary and MCA primaries, those of woman representative, senator, and governor were declared and classified as provisional because the Msambweni tallies were not included.

Mr Zani, who had gone to ask why his agent had been blocked from witnessing the counting of the votes, found himself in trouble when he refused to leave the room after being ordered to do so by police.

He accused the police of forcing him out despite the fact that he was an aspirant and, therefore, justified to oversee the counting of the votes.

"I refused to get out because I feared that I would be rigged out, as my agent had been blocked," he said.

He added: "Police beat and man-handled me before throwing me into a police lorry for requesting to oversee my vote counted. It is a very sad day for Kwale people."

He asked the national ODM elections board to investigate the issue.

"Votes were burnt, which is against the party's laws. This means they were destroying the evidence of rigging me out," he said.

The ballot papers were burnt, allegedly after agents and polling clerks agreed to do so.

Mwamanga village chairman Salim Said said it was unfair to burn the votes of the station, which had peaceful polling.