Court orders INEC to upload results of Lagos governorship election from polling units on March 11

The order also restrained INEC from engaging individuals or companies who are members of political parties in the distribution of electoral materials.

The Lagos State Division of the Federal High Court on Friday issued an order mandating the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload the results of the March 11 governorship and state House of Assembly elections on its results viewing portal (IReV).

The presiding judge, Mr Peter Lifu, gave the order in suit no: FHC/L/CS/370/2023 filed by the Labour Party, its governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and 40 others on Thursday.

Lifu held that INEC must obey the electoral law by ensuring the immediate transmission of the result to the portal immediately after counting votes at various polling units.

“That leave is hereby granted to the applicant to apply for an order of mandamus compelling the defendant and all its agents and/or their privies or any persons acting under their directions to comply with and enforce the provision of clause 38 of the REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES FOR THE CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS, 2022, for the conduct of the governorship and House of Assembly elections in Lagos State on 11 March 2023 to wit: Mandating the presiding officer of all polling units to electronically transmit or transfer the result of the polling units, direct to the collation system and use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to upload a scanned copy of the EC8A to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) immediately after the completion of all the Polling Units. Voting and results procedures,” the judge ruled.

The order also restrained INEC from engaging the services of individuals or companies who are members of any political party in the distribution of electoral materials.

The applicants, through their lawyer, Ibrahim Abass, had sought declarations preventing INEC from engaging persons who are partisans from distributing election materials.

They also sought an order compelling the electoral body to adhere to the guidelines on the conduct of elections.

Additionally, “a declaration that the defendant and all its agents and/or their privies or any persons acting under their directions are bound to comply with and enforce the provision of clause 37 of the Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022, for the conduct of the Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Lagos State on 11 March 2023 to wit: Mandating the presiding officer of all polling unit to paste the Publication of Result Poster EC60(E) at the polling units conspicuously after completing the EC8A result sheet.”

Controversies had trailed the conduct of last week’s presidential and National Assembly elections following INEC’s failure to electronically transmit the entire results on its portal after votes were counted at various polling units.