One of the lawyers appearing at the Supreme Court was on Wednesday left in a state of confusion after Chief Justice David Maraga asked him a surprise tough question.

Maraga posed the question while a lawyer representing businessman Harun Mwau was making his arguments to the court.

Mark Ouma told the court that the October 26 election was null and void, since fresh nominations had not been conducted.

Ouma quoted the Supreme Court’s September ruling which stated that the presidential election held on August 8 was null and void and ordered for a fresh election to be held.

Mwau’s lawyer stated that the meaning of a fresh nomination meant that the nominations, which are part of the election process, had also expired.

At this point, Maraga asked Ouma to give a legal authority that would have shown that the nominations carried out before August had expired.

The question, which was raised while the lawyer was on his feet, caught Ouma off-guard as he stammered momentarily before responding, “I don’t have the authority beforehand”.

Mwau's petition raised the issue of nominations while a second petition filed by activists Njonjo Mue and Khelef Khalifa raised a myriad of issues, claiming the election was marred by irregularities and illegalities.