INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the commission’s second quarterly consultative meeting with leaders of political parties at its headquarters.

Amupitan stated that removal of the duplicate entries was part of INEC’s strict commitment to maintaining  integrity of the electoral process  as the country begins early preparations for the 2027 General Elections.

According to the chairman, the final Register of Voters for the Ekiti governorship poll now stands at 1,059,360.

“This figure reflects the addition of 66,664 new voters registered during the first and second phases of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercises to the 2023 register of 987,647 voters.

“In line with our commitment to maintaining  integrity of the register, 2,103 registrations identified as cases of double registration were invalidated,” Amupitan said.

He assured stakeholders that logistics arrangements, deployment of election technology, training of officials, and security plans were progressing satisfactorily and on schedule for the election.

Amupitan expressed the commission’s commitment to opening of all 2,445 Polling Units across the 16 Local Government Areas of Ekiti at 8:30 a.m. on election day.

On the recently signed Peace Accord by political parties in the state, Amupitan urged party leaders to comply with the agreement.

“I urge political parties to ensure that its principles are fully internalised and observed by party officials, candidates, agents, and supporters throughout the electoral process,” he added.

The chairman maintained that the same operational standards, technological safeguards, and security frameworks being deployed in Ekiti would apply to the by-elections holding the same day across six states where vacancies had occurred.

The affected areas include Enugu North in Enugu state, Nasarawa North in Nasarawa-, Rivers South East in Rivers, and Ondo South Senatorial District in Ondo state;

Others are Dawakin Kudu/Warawa Federal Constituency in Kano state; and the Zuru state Constituency in Kebbi.

“Even as we finalise preparations for Ekiti, our attention is equally focused on the Osun  governorship election scheduled for Saturday, August 15.

“The timetable and schedule of activities for the election are already being implemented.

“I urge all political parties to comply strictly with the prescribed timelines and regulatory requirements.

The lessons learned from Ekiti will further strengthen our preparations and enhance the efficiency of our operations in Osun ,” he said.