The Senate has passed the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill to regulate the conduct of the federal, state and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This followed the clause by clause consideration of the bill by the lawmakers in the Committee of the Whole this Wednesday, February 4, 2026.

The Senate, however, rejected a proposed amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the bill, which sought to make the electronic transmission of election results mandatory.

The rejected provision would have required presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to electronically transmit results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, after the prescribed Form EC&A had been signed and stamped by the presiding officer and countersigned by candidates.

Instead, the Senate adopted the existing provision of the Electoral Act, which states that “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, in his closing remarks, however, denied the rejection of the electronic transmission of results by the Senate.

According to him, “electronic transmission has always been in our act.”

“What we did was retain the existing provision, which already makes provision for electronic transmission,” he added.

He further stated that there was no attempt to delay or frustrate the passage of the Electoral Act.

Earlier, the upper chamber rejected a proposed 10-year jail term for buyers and sellers of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) under Clause 22, opting instead to retain a two-year imprisonment term while increasing the fine from ₦2 million to ₦5 million.

The decision was taken on Wednesday during consideration of Clause 22 of the Electoral Amendment Bill.

The lawmakers also amended Clause 28 on the notice of election, reducing the timeline from 360 days to 180 days.

The original provision required the commission to publish a notice of election in each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory not later than 360 days before the election date.

In Clause 29, the Senate reduced the timeline for the submission of lists of candidates and their affidavits by political parties from 180 days to 90 days.

The amended provision states that “every political party shall, not later than 90 days before the date appointed for a general election under this Act, submit to the Commission, in the prescribed forms, the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections, who shall have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party.”

The Senate also retained the provision on the format of ballot papers contained in Clause 44.

Under the clause, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is required, not later than 20 days before an election, to invite in writing any political party that nominated a candidate to inspect its identity on samples of relevant electoral materials.

Political parties are allowed to respond in writing within two days, indicating approval or disapproval of how their identity appears on the samples.

Under Clause 47, the Senate replaced smart card readers with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for accreditation and voting.

However, after extensive debate, lawmakers rejected electronically generated voter identification and adopted the Permanent Voter Card as the mode of identification at polling units.

Meanwhile, the Senate struck out Clause 142 on the effect of non-compliance, which provided that “it shall not be necessary for a party who alleges non-compliance with the provisions of this Bill for the conduct of elections to call oral evidence if originals or certified true copies of relevant documents manifestly disclose the non-compliance alleged.”

The provision was removed following arguments that it would amount to a waste of time in court.

The Senate also announced the setup of a conference committee to be chaired by Senator Tahir Munguno. (Pieced together from reports by NAN and Channels TV)

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