Chief Justice David Maraga's presence in the case involving Governor John u and Jubilee stalwart Walter Nyambati has caused anxiety amongst teh latter's supporters.
Mr Maraga, who hails from Nyamira, is a neighbour to the governor at their Bonyamatuta area, a fact he confirmed when teh governor's son died in July.
"This old man is almost my age mate and we were brought together. For those who don't know, he's my neighbour back at home," he said.
And on Thursday, Maraga is among five Supreme Court judges in the bench handling Nyambati's election petition that challenges Nyagarama's win.
A number of Nyambati's supporters now want Maraga to voluntarily quit from the race over 'conflict of interest'.
"To make this fair to all, he should at least quit and allow neutral judges to look at the matter. It directly involves his county," argued Nicholas Kibeni.
Amos Kebuse added: "We respect the CJ but on this case, it is quite important that he quits. He can't preside over it for obvious reasons."
The Supreme Court will hold first hearing of the case on Thursday morning in which Nyambati has challenged Nyagarama's victory. He lost two previous challenges at lower courts.
Nyambati critics have always blamed him for orchastrating 'slow development' in the county through presentation of 'weak case'.
"The case is weak and is going nowhere. He should allow the governor to work for his people. It's time the two dropped their differences,"said lawyer Jones Nyachiro.
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