The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied allegations that it removed candidates nominated by the Nigeria Democratic Congress from some State House of Assembly constituencies in Anambra and Benue states and replaced them with unauthorised names.

INEC said its records showed that the disputed candidates were contained in Form EC9E submitted to the commission and duly signed by the NDC National Chairman and National Secretary.

The commission made the clarification in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna.

According to INEC, candidate nomination remains the responsibility of political parties, while the commission has no legal authority to select, insert or substitute candidates for any party.

“Candidate nomination is, by law, the exclusive responsibility of political parties. INEC has no legal authority to select, insert, or substitute a candidate for any party,” the commission said.

INEC also clarified that its monitoring of political party primaries does not give it the power to impose candidates on parties.

“Monitoring a party’s primary is a statutory oversight function only and confers no power on INEC to choose or impose a candidate,” it added.

The commission said all 22 registered political parties had designated two technically trained officers to manage their candidate nomination processes ahead of the 2027 general elections.

It added that the parties’ portal access codes were issued directly to their national chairmen following training organised by INEC.

INEC further stated that candidate lists were generated from submissions made by political parties and jointly signed by their national chairmen and national secretaries through the relevant Form EC9 series.

“Therefore any claim that the Commission independently uploaded or altered candidate information is unfounded and untrue,” INEC said.

The development followed allegations by the NDC that names of candidates it neither nominated nor authorised had appeared on INEC’s published candidate lists for some State House of Assembly constituencies.

The party had identified several constituencies in Anambra State and alleged that a similar situation occurred in Benue and Imo states.

NDC National Chairman, Moses Cleopas, had called on the INEC Chairman to investigate how the disputed names appeared on the party’s candidate list.

INEC said it remained committed to transparency, accountability and providing a level playing field for all stakeholders ahead of the 2027 elections.