THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended voting time in areas where the process commenced late in the Edo State governorship election.

The Commission announced this in a statement by its national commissioner and member,
information and voter education committee, Mohammed Haruna.

It said, “Our monitoring indicates early commencement of polls in many polling units, but there are also reports of late commencement in some locations.

“To ensure that no voter is disenfranchised, the commission wishes to reiterate that, in line with our regulations and guidelines, voting will be extended wherever it commenced late and will continue until the last voter on the queue who arrived at the polling unit by 2.30 pm has voted.”

The INEC said further that it had drawn the attention of its office in Edo State to ensure that, where necessary, there is adequate power supply from its backup electric generators in the affected polling units or ward collation centres.

“The commission continues to monitor the ongoing governorship election in Edo State from our situation room at the National Headquarters in Abuja,” it added.

The ICIR reported that all three senatorial districts in the state witnessed delayed arrival of voting materials, possibly from heavy downpours in the early hours of today, Saturday, September 21.

Approximately 2.25 million people who collected their permanent voter’s card (PVC), according to the data from INEC are expected to cast their ballot in the 4,519 polling units across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.