The Kaduna State House of Assembly on Thursday passed into law the bill to amend the State Electoral Law No 2 of 2021, erasing the use of electronic voting machines.
The Speaker, Yusuf Dahiru, passed the law after adopting the in-depth report and recommendations of the amended law presented by the Chairman, of the House Committee on Judiciary, Emmanuel Kantiyok.
The law as amended, stated that in Section 3, the definition of the words “Ballot Box” be amended by deleting the phrase “Electronic Voting Machine” to now read this.
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“Ballot Box means a receptacle for the collection of ballot paper”.
It also recommended that the term “Electronic Device” be deleted wherever it appears and that in the body of the Law, the term “Ballot Receipt” be deleted.
According to the law, verification and voting would be done through the use of a manual voter register with the commission providing ballot papers and ballot boxes for the conduct of election.
Earlier, the house confirmed the appointment of Halima Sani, Abubakar Musa and Ahmed Yahya as Permanent Commissioners of the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM).
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that Kaduna state had in 2018, conducted local government elections via Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) an innovation introduced to the commission.
Shortly after the plenary, Deputy Chairman of the committee and the member representing Zaria City, Ismail Lawal, stated that the amendment was needed as local government elections were around the corner.
“We are going back to the manual voting we were used to, where there will be ballot boxes and papers, to prove to everyone that elections would be free and fair,” he said.
