The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Tuesday, said the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) to new applicants across Edo State local government areas will commence today.

The commission, while urging the applicants to come for their cards, noted that it would not release them to third parties.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, in a statement, said the distribution at the ward level had been concluded with 125,928 PVCs collected within five days.

He said the figure represented 68.3 per cent of the 184,438 new cards issued during the recent Continuous Voter Registration exercise, marking the highest collection rate recorded by INEC since the introduction of CVR ahead of off-cycle governorship elections in 2015.

Olumekun said that the collection, which took place across all 192 wards in Edo State between August 22 and 26, was achieved through a carefully coordinated effort by INEC.

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The commission credited the success to its strategic packaging of PVCs by polling units, wards, and LGAs, along with direct communication to voters about the availability of their cards.

“As earlier announced by the commission, Permanent Voter Cards from the recent Continuous Voter Registration in Edo State would be available for collection at two levels. First, across all the 192 wards from Thursday, 22, to Monday, 26, August 2024. Secondly, in our 18 LGA offices.

“The commission is pleased to announce the conclusion of the collection at ward level. Learning from the lessons of the previous collection of PVCs, the commission has carefully packaged all the PVCs by Poling Units, Wards and LGAs. We also produced the collection register, providing details of the voters whose cards were ready for collection, and uploaded them to our website.

“In addition, we contacted them using the addresses provided at the time of registration. As a result, out of the 184,438 new PVCs available, 125,928 cards were collected by voters, representing 68.3 per cent of the total. This is the highest percentage of PVCs collected in five days since the commission introduced the CVR ahead of off-cycle governorship elections in 2015.

“A detailed breakdown of the collection by LGAs has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information,” the statement read in part.

INEC announced that the collection process will now move to its 18 Local Government Area offices in Edo State, where voters can pick up their PVCs from 28 August to 8 September 2024.

The commission stated that PVCs must be collected in person, as no cards will be issued by proxy.

INEC has made detailed information about the locations of its LGA offices available on its website, encouraging voters who have not yet collected their PVCs to do so as soon as possible.

Olumekun stated, “Meanwhile, the collection will resume in our 18 LGA offices in Edo State from tomorrow, Wednesday, 28th August 2024 and end on Sunday 8th September 2024.

“We appeal to the remaining voters to pick up their PVCs in person from our LGA offices. The commission reiterates its policy that no cards will be collected by proxy. Detailed information on the locations of our LGA offices is already available on our website.”