Kaduna Assembly Dumps Electronic Voting

Kaduna State House of Assembly (KSHA) has passed into law, a bill to amend the state’s Electoral Law No. 2 of 2021 erasing use of the electronic voting machine.

The speaker, Hon.Yusuf Dahiru Liman, passed the law after adopting the in-depth report and recommendations of the amended law presented by the chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Emmanuel Kantiok.

The law as amended states that in Section 3 the definition of the words ‘Ballot Box’ be amended by deleting the phrase ‘Electronic Voting Machine’ to now read ‘Ballot Box’, meaning 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 will be done through the use of manual voters’ register with the commission providing ballot papers and ballot boxes for the conduct of elections.

After plenary, the deputy chairman of the committee and 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 have used before where there will be ballot boxes and papers and we want the public to understand that elections will be free and fair,” he said.

The House had earlier confirmed the appointments of Halima Sani, Abubakar Musa and Ahmed Yahya as permanent commissioners of the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM).