The returning officer for the Kaura Namoda state assembly bye-election, Prof. Lawal Sa’ad Gusau, has declared the Saturday by-election as inconclusive.
His decision to declare the election inconclusive was based on the fact that the total number of PVCs collected in the polling units where the election was canceled exceeded the margin of lead between the winning and runner-up parties
Elections were canceled in Sakajiki and Kyambarawa wards in the Kaura Namoda local government area.
In Sakajiki, which has code (06) as its registration number by INEC, there are two polling units with 1,357 registered voters and 1,298 collected PVCs, while Kyambarawa with code (05) has three polling units affected with 4,088 registered voters and 1,964 collected PVCs were also canceled.
According to the returning officer, a total of 5,446 voters were registered across the affected Registration Areas, with 3,265 PVCs collected, which exceeded the margin of lead of 1,662.
Prof. Sa’ad cited sections 24 (2) & (3), section 47(3), and 51(2) of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended in declaring the election as “inconclusive.”
Another date will be fixed by INEC for the completion of the re-run election.
