The Independent National Electoral Commission on Tuesday said it would deploy the Bimodal Voters Authentication System in subsequent elections, despite glitches with its usage and general outcry during the Federal Capital Territory Area Council election.
The commission however promised to improve the functionality of the machine in the forthcoming by-elections and off-season governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun as well as the 2023 general election.
The chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, gave the assurance at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja.
According to him, outcome of elections conducted since the introduction of BVAS in previous elections, including the FCT Area Council poll, had been adjudged by observers as credible.
Yakubu said the commission acknowledged the challenges to the optimal functionality of the device and was working on them.
He said, “When the commission introduced the BVAS last year, the compact device was intended to achieve two objectives. First is the verification of the genuineness of the Permanent Voters’ Cards and the fingerprint or facial authentication of voters during accreditation.
“Secondly, to replace the Z-pad for uploading the polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal in real-time on election day. So far, the BVAS has performed optimally in verifying the authenticity of PVCs and uploading images of polling unit results to the IReV.
“We will review and improve its functionality for biometric accreditation of voters in the forthcoming bye-elections and off-season Governorship elections before the 2023 general election.
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