The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 231,900 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have yet to be collected in Gombe State.

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Umar Ibrahim, said this at a news conference in Gombe on Wednesday.

He said the outstanding PVCs had been received, noting that collection was ongoing at INEC’s local government offices across the state.

“I call on those who register, transferred, updated their bio-data or requested for replacement of their lost or damaged PVCs to go and collect their PVCs,” he said.

He said the commission had scaled up sensitisation activities to create awareness of the need for the electorate to collect their PVCs, adding that “we are happy they are coming out to collect them.”

The REC revealed that 181,331 new voters had been added to the existing 1.39 million, making a total of 1.57 million preliminary registered voters in the state.

According to him, the preliminary registered voters may reduce due to the display of the initial voters register in November.

On the Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) device, Mr Ibrahim said the commission had received 2,988 exact BVAS requirements in the state, adding that the commission was expecting a backup of the device to address BVAS-related challenges that might arise during the election.

He further reiterated the commission’s commitment to free, fair and credible elections in the state.

(NAN)