Electoral Act amendment bill scales first reading in Senate

The Senate on Wednesday read for the first time, a bill seeking to amend electoral act which was sponsored by the Senate Spokesperson and Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru.

The bill seeks to amend the Electoral Act by altering the period for accreditation and voting as well as providing for the compulsory use of card readers for accreditation.

Among other provisions in the bill is a provision for separate periods for accreditation and voting, with further provision that accreditation commences by 8:00 am and close by 1:00pm.

In the amendment, voting was expected to commence immediately after accreditation; however, this is without prejudice to the fact that all voters who are already on the queue by 1:00 pm shall be accredited.

In the proposed amendment to the Electoral Act, “the accreditation process shall comprise of the verification of voters using the Card Reader and Register of Voters.”

Furthermore, the bill provides that where the votes cast at an election in any polling unit exceeds the number of accredited voters on the voters register and card reader in any polling unit, the result of the election in that polling unit shall be declared void and another election conducted where the result at that polling unit may affect the overall result in the Constituency.

This a major innovation that provides legal backing to the use of card for elections in Nigeria.

The bill also makes it compulsory for INEC to make available to a political party or candidates in any election, upon request, the details of the number of accredited voters for the election on both the card reader and voters register used for the election.