Ondo guber: 55,859 PVCs collected in five days, says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 55,859 permanent voter cards (PVCs) have been collected in Ondo state within five days.

The distribution of PVCs in Ondo state began on October 17 across the 203 wards ahead of the November 16 governorship election.

In a statement on Tuesday, Sam Olumekun, national commissioner and chair of the information and voter education committee, said the figure also includes applicants for transfer and replacement of lost or damaged cards.

“This figure represents 62.2% of the 89,777 cards available for collection. This is the highest percentage of PVCs collected in five days in Ondo State since the Commission introduced the CVR in 2015,” the statement reads.

“A detailed breakdown of the collection by local government areas (LGAs) has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.

“Meanwhile, the collection will resume in our 18 LGA offices in Ondo State from tomorrow Wednesday 23rd to Tuesday 29th October 2024 from 9.00am to 5.00pm daily (including the weekend).

”Detailed information on the locations of our LGA offices in the State is already available on our website.”

He appealed to the voters to personally pick up their PVCs, adding that the cards will not be handed to proxies.

INEC TO DEPLOY OVER 4,000 BVAS FOR POLL

Meanwhile, INEC says it will deploy 4,002 bimodal voter accreditation systems for the Ondo state governorship election.

Speaking at a forum for journalists on Tuesday, Oluwatoyin Babalola, the state resident electoral commissioner (REC), said 812 BVAS will also be set aside as backup.

She said INEC is preparing to ensure a smooth and efficient electoral process across the state’s polling units while 17,705 ad hoc staff, who have been adequately trained, will be deployed for the poll.

“Security personnel will be deployed to all polling units, collation centres and other strategic locations across the state. The safety of the media and all electoral stakeholders is our top priority and we are fully committed to delivering a peaceful and secure election,” she said.