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Off-season elections: 101,003 PVCs uncollected in Imo — INEC

Ahead of the forthcoming off-season elections slated for November in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi States, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that over 101,003 registered voters have not collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) out of the 2,419,922 that registered.

The statement signed by Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner & Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee and made available on Monday revealed that only 2,318,919 have collected their PVCs.

It equally disclosed that in Kogi state, 99,494 PVCs remained uncollected out of the 1,932,654 that registered.

The statement further advised that on the day of voting “Any vote from a polling unit in excess of the number of PVCs collected amounts to overvoting.”

The statement reads in part:” The Commission met today, 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.

“As was done in recent elections, including the 2023 General Election, the Commission is publishing the comprehensive information of collected and uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) in the three states on a 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 breakdown for the three States indicates that out of 1,056,862 registered voters in Bayelsa State, 1,017,613 have collected their PVCs and 39, 249 are uncollected. In Imo State, the number of registered voters is 2,419,922 out of which 2,318,919 have collected their PVCs and 101,003 are uncollected, while in Kogi State, out of 1,932,654 registered voters, 1,833,160 have collected their PVCs and leaving 99,494 uncollected.

“The detailed information has been uploaded to the Commission’s website www.inecnigeria.org.

“We appeal to all stakeholders to note the information. Any vote from a polling unit in excess of the number of PVCs collected amounts to overvoting. The number of PVCs collected shall be used for the computation of the margin of lead principle.”

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