2023: Lagos Voters Have Collected 5,676,858 PVCs – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that a total number of 5,676,858 voters in Lagos State have so far collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2023 general election.

According to the commission, another 953,803 voters in the state are yet to collect their PVCs, which brings the total number of voters received in the state from 2011 to 2021 to 6,630,661.

Naija News reports that INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Lagos State, Olusegun Agbaje who gave this information said as of 2nd December, 953,803 PVCs were yet to be collected by their owners in the state.

Agbaje spoke at a Stakeholders’ Meeting on the Collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) with the leadership of political parties, civil society organisations, and religious leaders on Thursday in Ikeja.

According to him, in line with the Electoral Act 2022, members of the public should be notified that anyone without PVC cannot vote in the 2023 general elections.

He noted that “It is pertinent to note that as at 2. Dec, 953,803 PVCs were yet to be collected by their owners.

“These uncollected cards and the expected PVCs for fresh registrants, transfer or review from January to July will be available for collection in all INEC offices across the state from Monday, Dec. 12.

“It is instructive to note that collection of PVC by proxy will not be allowed and the collection of PVC is free.

“Owners of transferred, defaced or other incidents PVCs should bring along with them, the old PVCs for exchange with new ones.”

Naija News also gathered that the Lagos REC submitted that INEC had fixed the collection of PVCs from December 12 to January 22, 2023, at its Local Government Area offices and from January 6, 2023, to January 15, 2023, at the ward levels.

He further explained that the deadline of January 22, 2023, for the collection of PVCs became imperative to enable INEC to compute the polling unit by polling unit records of PVCs collected.

Agbaje said the deadline was to aid INEC preparations in line with sections 24 (2&3), 47 (3) and 51 (2) of the Electoral Act 2022, in case the margin of lead between the two leading candidates in an election was not in excess of the total number of voters who collected their PVCs in polling units where elections were postponed, voided or not held.

“Consequently, all those that are yet to collect their PVCs are to do so within the period and avoid the last-minute rush as the commission will not extend the collection period,” he added.

He revealed that Lagos state had 13,325 polling units and 245 wards spread across the 20 LGAs, saying that 13, 325 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would be deployed for authentication of PVCs and accreditation of voters.