Anambra 2021: BVAS Not Card Readers Are Being Used – INEC

There have been reports that the ongoing election in Anambra State is being stalled by the use of card readers, but the independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has clarified that it had adopted the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, and not card readers.

Festus Okoye, INEC’s spokesman, stated this on Saturday afternoon in a short message sent to THE WHISTLER.

According to him, “INEC is not using the Smart Card Reader for the Anambra election. We are using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device, to capture fingerprints and facials.”

He said BVAS will also be used to upload the polling units result to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV)

He pointed out that there are 5,720 polling units across 21 LGAs in Anambra State, where voting was expected to take place.

He however said voting will not take place in 86PUs without registered voters.

He denounced the report that voters who trooped out this morning to vote in the Anambra 2021 governorship election were shocked due to failure of the card readers deployed by INEC , saying it was false.

He assured that the Commission has made adequate arrangements to respond swiftly whenever any of their devices develops glitches.

Meanwhile, voting is in full swing across the state even as issues of late arrival of materials and mix-up of election materials are prevalent.

The Commission has not issued any directive to extend voting time as some of the candidates had advised following administrative delays.