The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has increased the number of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices for the August 15 Osun State governorship election from 4,427 to 5,130 following concerns raised by political parties, but the figure remains lower than the number deployed for the state’s last governorship poll despite an increase in polling units.

A search by Daily Trust showed that INEC deployed 5,305 BVAS machines for the 2022 Osun governorship election conducted across 3,753 polling units, with about 1,552 additional devices reserved as backups.

However, for the August 15 election, the commission plans to deploy 5,130 BVAS devices across 3,763 polling units, with 1,328 backup machines after reviewing its initial deployment.

This means the forthcoming election will have 175 fewer BVAS devices and 224 fewer backup machines than the 2022 governorship election, even though the number of polling units has increased by 10.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), announced the revised deployment on Saturday during an interactive session with media executives in Osogbo.

He said the commission doubled the number of backup BVAS devices from 664 to 1,328 after political parties expressed concerns over the initial deployment.

According to him, the decision also followed observations from the mock accreditation exercise conducted across selected polling units in Osogbo, Oriade and other local government areas.

He described the mock accreditation as a quality assurance exercise designed to test the commission’s technology under real election conditions.

According to him, voter accreditation during the exercise took between 30 seconds and two minutes using either fingerprint or facial recognition.

Amupitan said the additional devices would cater for split polling units in Ife East, Irewole, Egbedore, Ede North and Osogbo local government areas.

“We have increased the total number of BVAS for the election from 4,427 to 5,130 to service split polling units in large polling units. In the process, we also increased the number of backup devices from 664 to 1,328 for quick intervention in case of any malfunction,” he said.

He added that technical support engineers had been assigned to every registration area with backup devices to ensure immediate replacement of faulty machines.

The INEC chairman said preparations for the election had reached an advanced stage, noting that 2,339,233 registered voters are expected to vote in 3,763 polling units across 320 wards in the state’s 30 local government areas.

He said 14 political parties would participate in the election, while the training of ad hoc staff was nearing completion.

According to him, the commission will deploy about 32,000 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), recruited through the INECPRES portal, for the exercise.

On security, Amupitan said INEC had adopted a proactive strategy through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to safeguard election personnel, materials and voters.

He said the commission is working with the police and the military to prevent any disruption of the election.

The chairman also confirmed attacks on the commission’s offices in Okuku, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, and Ife Central, where Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were stolen.

He, however, assured affected voters that the theft would not compromise the election because stolen PVCs could not be used without the biometric verification of the legitimate owners.

He said the commission had directed its ICT department to reprint the stolen PVCs or allow affected voters to use downloadable PVCs during the election.

Amupitan said INEC had also made arrangements to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups by providing Braille ballot guides, magnifying glasses, hearing support materials and priority voting arrangements.

He urged journalists to verify election-related information before publication, warning that misinformation and disinformation posed serious threats to the electoral process.

“INEC is an independent, neutral and impartial umpire. Our responsibility is not who wins the election, but to ensure that every valid vote counts and that the outcome reflects the true will of the people,” he said.

The Interactive session was attended by INEC national commissioners, the Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Oluwatoyin Babalola, leaders of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) and other senior officials of the commission. (Weekend Trust)