BVAS Revealed: INEC Breaks Down How FCT Election Results Were Transmitted

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that it conducted a mock trial of the updated Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) at 289 polling units across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ahead of the recently concluded Area Council elections.

The commission’s Deputy Director of Information and Publicity, Wilfred Ifogah, provided the details on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. He explained that the trial was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the newly introduced BVAS updates in strengthening the integrity of the result management process at polling units.

“Ifogah noted that prior to the FCT elections, a test-run of the updated BVAS was conducted in 289 polling units across the territory,” the commission stated. The update requires presiding officers to input election results directly into the BVAS after collation at the polling units.

The system now features an inbuilt validation mechanism that cross-checks uploaded results with previously recorded data. If scanned images of the EC8A forms, which contain tabulated results, do not align with accredited voter numbers and figures already stored in BVAS, the system will prevent the submission until the data is verified for accuracy.

“This enhanced BVAS capability goes beyond merely capturing and transmitting photos of result sheets. It now validates scanned information against pre-recorded data to ensure accuracy,” Ifogah said.

According to INEC, the improvements are part of ongoing efforts to enhance transparency and guarantee that results transmitted from polling units accurately reflect the figures recorded during accreditation and voting.