The house of representatives has
proposed that smart card readers must be used for accreditation before
elections are conducted in any polling unit.
The proposal is contained in a
bill which seeks to amend the provisions of the electoral act. It was
considered by the committee of the whole on Thursday.
The bill — which has 41 clauses —
also proposes that there will be no use of electronic voting during elections.
However, the lawmakers excluded
the clause to re-order the election sequence which is now a different bill in
the green chamber.
During the consideration,
Kingsley Chinda, a lawmaker from Rivers,
had sought to add a new amendment that the election in any polling unit should
be suspended if the card reader fails.
The amendment reads: “The
presiding officer shall use the smartcard reader for accreditation of voters.
Where the smartcard fails in any unit, the election in that unit will be
suspended and conducted within 24 hours.”
The amendment, however, triggered
protests from some of the lawmakers who warned of the delay such suspension
would cause.
Yusuf Lasun, the deputy speaker,
who presided over the session, said: “If the card reader fails to read in line
polling unit, that means you are delaying result of the election in the entire
ward.”
But Chinda said there will be no
delays except in cases where the result from the polling unit will affect that
of the entire ward.
“If that unit’s result will not
affect the entire outcome, INEC doesn’t have to go back. But if it will affect
the outcome, their (INEC) policy is that they must go back to do the
accreditation with a card reader and conduct the election,” he said.
The lawmakers also deleted an
amendment in the bill which seeks to introduce the use of electronic voting
into the electoral act.
They said while an electronic
instrument — the card reader — will be used only for accreditation, the voting
will be strictly done manually.
Another major highlight of the
bill is provision for the disqualification of a candidate if he or she is found
to have filed fake documents, while the candidate’s party is to pay a fine of
N1 million.
The proposal also seeks to
disqualify the candidate from participating in a fresh election in cases where
the initial election has been conducted.
It also includes the safekeeping
of the voters’ register at the headquarters of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), its state or local government office.
In the event of electoral
violence, the bill provides for the disqualification of a candidate alone
without including the political party.
The house did not pass the entire
bill as there are two clauses in it that are still up for approval.
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