The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it tested an upgraded version of its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in 289 polling units across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) before the recent Area Council elections.
Wilfred Ifogah, INEC’s Deputy Director of Information and Publicity, disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday while responding to concerns that followed the council polls.
According to Ifogah, the commission organised a large-scale mock exercise to evaluate new enhancements added to the BVAS, describing the move as part of efforts to reinforce confidence in the electoral process.
He explained that the updated system introduces an additional verification layer at the polling unit level. After votes are counted and results finalised, presiding officers are required to input the figures directly into the BVAS device.
Upgraded Technology
The upgraded technology, he said, is programmed to automatically compare the uploaded results with accreditation data already stored in the system.
If there is any discrepancy between the scanned EC8A result sheet and the number of accredited voters captured earlier, the submission will be rejected until the inconsistency is resolved.
Ifogah noted that the improvement represents a significant shift from the device’s earlier role, which primarily focused on capturing and transmitting images of result sheets.
The new feature, he said, ensures that figures entered correspond with previously recorded voter data before they can be successfully uploaded.
INEC maintains that the innovation is aimed at tightening result management procedures, boosting transparency, and ensuring that figures transmitted from polling units accurately reflect what was recorded during accreditation and voting.
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The commission says the FCT mock trial provided an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the enhanced BVAS ahead of wider electoral deployment.