INEC plans over 8,500 BVAS for by-elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission is expected to deploy no fewer than 8,500 Bimodal Verification Accreditation System machines for the February 3 re-rerun and by-elections on February 3 2024, The PUNCH gathered on Wednesday.

The elections will be conducted in a total of 8,890 polling units, according to a document posted by INEC on its X handle.

The by-elections will be held in nine states in 4,294 polling units while reruns will be held in 4,596 polling units.

The breakdown showed that for the senatorial districts, elections will be held in Ebonyi South, Ebonyi State and Yobe East, Yobe State.

For the state constituencies, INEC will conduct elections in Chibok State Constituency, Borno State; Chikun State Constituency, Kaduna State, and Guma State Constituency, Benue State.

For federal constituencies, elections will be held in Akoko North-East/Akoko North-West Federal Constituency, Ondo State; Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency, Taraba State; Surulere 1 Federal Constituency, Lagos State; and Yauri/Shanga/Ngaski Federal Constituency, Kebbi State.

While the court-ordered re-run elections would be held in 4,596 polling units, the elections will be conducted in one senatorial district of Plateau Central, and 12 federal constituencies.

The federal constituencies include  Surulere 1 (Lagos),  Gauri/Shanta/Ingaski and Arewa/Dandi (Kebbi), Akoko North-East/North-West (Ondo),  Jalingo/Yorro/Zing (Taraba), Ikono/Ini (Akwa Ibom) and Akamkpa/Biase (Cross River State).

Others are Nnewi North/Nnewi South and Orumba North/Orumba South (Anambra), Igbo Eze North/Udenu (Enugu), Birnin Kudu/Buji (Jigawa), Igabi and Kachia/Kagarko (Kaduna), Faskari/Kankara/Sabuwa (Katsina), Jos North/Bases (Plateau) and Fine/Fune (Yobe).

Similarly, senatorial elections will be held in Yobe-East and Plateau Central following court orders.

At the state level, elections will be conducted to fill vacant positions in Adamawa,  Akwa Ibom,   Bauchi ,  Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta,   Enugu,  Kaduna, Kano,  Nasarawa,  Niger, Oyo, Sokoto,   Zamfara,   Benue and Borno states.

Our correspondent gathered that a total of 4,567,689 Nigerians are eligible to vote in 8,890 polling units on February 3, 2024.

It is expected that the commission provides at least one BVAS per polling unit and some backup BVAS for a smooth electoral process.

The final list of candidates will be published on January 17.  The campaign is expected to start on January 18 and close on February 1.