INEC urges proper use of collected PVCs for Imo, Bayelsa, Kogi elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC, has charged voters to conscientiously fulfill their civic responsibilities as the forthcoming off-cycle governorship elections in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa states draw near.

INEC has, thus far, distributed a total of 5,169,692 Permanent Voters Cards,PVCs, in these three states.

However, there are still 239,746 PVCs that have not been collected by eligible voters.

In a statement made available to CAPITAL POST, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Sam Olumekun, stated a breakdown of the figures, as Bayelsa State has 1,056,862 registered voters, with 1,017,613 having already collected their PVCs, leaving 39,249 uncollected. In Imo State, out of 2,419,922 registered voters, 2,318,919 have their PVCs, while 101,003 are yet to collect theirs.

In Kogi State, 1,833,160 PVCs have been collected out of 1,932,654 registered voters, with 99,494 remaining uncollected.

According to the statement, the commission met on Monday 30th October 2023, specifically to review the ongoing preparations for the off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States scheduled for Saturday, 11th November 2023.

It noted that as was done in recent elections, including the 2023 general election, the commission is publishing the comprehensive information of collected and uncollected PVCs in the three states on polling unit basis.

“The information also gives the distribution of the polling units by Local Government Areas, Registration Areas/Wards, the names of the polling units, their code numbers, number of registered voters and the number of collected as well as uncollected PVCs.

“Equally significantly, the list provides the names and locations of the two polling units in Bayelsa State and 38 in Imo State without registered voters. The detailed information has been uploaded to the Commission’s website www.inecnigeria.org

The commission appealed to all stakeholders to note the information, and that any vote from a polling unit in excess of the number of PVCs collected amounts to over voting.

It added that the number of PVCs collected shall be used for the computation of the margin of lead principle.