A Bill seeking to enable candidates of political parties field polling agents alongside the ones provided by their respective parties has scaled first reading at the Senate. The bill titled Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill , 2024 (SB. 328) First Reading is sponsored by Abia-North Senator, Orji Uzor Kalu.
Kalu’s Bill seeks to amend section 61 of the 2022 electoral which only grants political parties powers to field polling agents on behalf of their candidates at the various registration, polling and counting centers.
When amended candidates themselves will also be enabled to field polling agents alongside the ones provided by their party.
According to the explanatory memorandum of the bill made available to the SUN, section 43 of the Principal Act will be amended by inserting after the Amendment of Section 43. Existing subsection “(1)”, a new subsection “(1A)”.
The newly amended section will now read as ; “(1A) Each candidate, in consultation with his or her political party may, by notice in writing, addressed to the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the State, appoint a polling agent alongside his or her party’s polling agent for each polling unit and collation center in the Local Government Area or Area Council for which he or she is a candidate.”
On Tuesday’s plenary Leader of the Senate , Senator Opeyemi Bamidele introduced the bill while the clerk of the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze read its short title afterwhich it was passed first reading via voice votes presided by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
