BY Samuel  Oyadongha

Yenagoa—The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, weekend,  warned that it would henceforth prosecute any person found to be involved in multiple voter registration.

The commission also assured that it was working around the clock to ensure that its conduct of the 2015 polls ranks among the best in the world.

Speaking at a forum in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State to sensitise stakeholders ahead of the distribution of the permanent voters card and commencement of the continuous voter registration exercise,  both the National Electoral Commissioner in charge of Edo, Delta and Bayelsa states, Chief Ishmael Igbani and the Bayelsa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Edwin Nwatarali, said that the commission had done the needful to ensure  free, fair and credible polls in 2015.

According to the duo, the elimination of multiple voter registration would ensure that every vote was accounted for during elections.

Igbani said: “In the 2015 polls, only persons with permanent voter’s card will be eligible to vote on election days. We have done the needful by eliminating multiple registration so as to ensure that every vote is accounted for.”

He called on Bayelsans who did not register in the last exercise to avail themselves of the continuous registration exercise, starting next Friday by coming out en mass to register.

In his remarks, the state REC, Mr. Nwatarali said:  “If India with its over one billion population can conduct free, fair and credible elections over a three-week period, with its perilous terrain and pervasive poverty, then all of us should set aside our political, religious and ethnic sentiments to make sure we create an enabling environment for stress-free elections in 2015 and the most important journey to ensure the above is what we are commencing on May 23.”