The Independent National Electoral Commission (lNEC) says it will continue to use and deploy the Smart Card Reader(SCR) in all elections, including that of Saturday’s rerun election in Kogi West Senatorial District, Ajaokuta Federal Constituency and Sabuwa State Constituency.
The Commission disclosed this in a statement issued by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, on Thursday in Abuja, NAN reports.
INEC said that the clarification became necessary in the light of remarks attributed to Okoye at a programme by the Situation Room, which gave the impression that Smart Card Readers were no longer useful in the electoral process.
It explained that the commission introduced the SCR in the electoral process principally as an additional confirmatory and authentication tool.
It added that the tool was to determine the authenticity of cards presented by voters and eliminate impersonation, which were serious challenges to the electoral process in Nigeria.
INEC said that the SCR was designed to strengthen the integrity of the electoral process and eliminate multiple voting.
It reminded political parties, candidates, poll agents and the electorate that resistance to the use of the SCR and obstruction and resistance to the deployment/distribution of electoral materials constituted unlawful truncation of the electoral process.
The commission warned that consequently zero votes would be entered for the affected polling unit. NAN
