Onyekachi Eze 
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the number of newly registered voters in Edo and Ondo States is now 177,914, as against 269,992 that was published earlier.
INEC had on June 11 when it released the list of the new voters after a special continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise in the two states, said the data would undergo cleaning up using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).
The register was also displayed in the 395 wards in the two states, for seven days as well as on the INEC website, for claims and objections.
Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee Sam Olumekun, in a statement yesterday, disclosed that the number of new voters for Edo State is 119,206 while that of Ondo is 58,708. This means that a total of 92,078 new registrants have been removed from the register during the cleaning up process for irregular registration.
Olumekun explained that the new figures do not include the 8,847 applications for transfer into Edo State and the 3,132 into Ondo State from other states of the federation.
“Similarly, they do not include applications for transfer within the two states because they are already captured on the register of voters,” he added. INEC had disclosed that 24,454 voters requested for replacement of their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs), while 74,493 applications were received for voter transfer, as well as 8,314 for information update.
Olumekun, who is also INEC National Commissioner, said the figures of the new voters and inter-state transfers were being integrated into the existing register.
He promised that in the next few days, the Commission will release the comprehensive and final register of voters to be used for the 2024 governorship elections for each of the two states.
Further analysis of new voters showed that more male voters registered in Edo State than their female counterparts, while more females registered in Ondo State. More youths registered in the two states than the elderly.
