ASPIRANT PETITIONS INEC OVER LUMPING OF POLLS

Owosile, in his petition, said having three or four elections in one day smacks of attempt by the commission to just fulfill its obligation and wash its hands clean or reduce cost.

'In a largely illiterate environment like ours, managing two elections in one day is a challenge and oftentimes the bandwagon effect has a lot of impact not to mention when there are three elections in one.

'Many voters, especially illiterate voters, would be technically disenfranchised as they will be incapable of informed decisions when presented with three or four ballot papers at once. The results will most likely not reflect the work and acceptability of the individual candidates', he noted.

The lawyer also posited that with the lumping together, INEC runs the risk of failure, which will rub off on the credibility of the entire exercise.

He urged the commission to fix another date for the postponed NASS elections, adding that whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.

'It is noteworthy that it took one man to make today's India. Every election should be decided on its merit and what makes the merit of the situation is to conduct a separate election for the NASS as earlier planned', he said.