The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that 592 candidates will contest 52 elective positions in Benue State during the 2027 general elections.
The commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Aminu Idris, made this known on Wednesday during a stakeholders’ meeting at INEC’s state collation centre in Makurdi.
He said 3,057,225 registered voters were expected to participate in the elections across 5,102 polling units in the state.
According to Idris, the presidential and National Assembly elections would hold on January 16, 2027, while the governorship and State House of Assembly elections were scheduled for February 6, 2027.
He disclosed that 12 political parties had nominated candidates for the Benue governorship election, while 40 candidates would compete for the state’s three senatorial seats.
The senatorial contests would feature 12 candidates in Benue North-East, 13 in Benue North-West and 15 in Benue South.
Idris added that 118 candidates would contest the 11 House of Representatives seats in the state. Otukpo/Ohimini Federal Constituency had the highest number, with 15 candidates.
For the Benue State House of Assembly, 422 candidates would compete for 37 seats.
The REC explained that the number of state constituencies increased from 32 to 37 following court judgments restoring five constituencies in Benue.
The restored constituencies are Ukum II (Afia), Konshisha (Shange-Tiev), Gboko III (Central), Makurdi III (South-East) and Nyamatsor in Buruku Local Government Area.
On preparations for the elections, Idris said INEC had started distributing non-sensitive election materials to its offices across the state.
He also disclosed that the commission had inspected 5,381 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices. Of these, 5,277, representing 98 per cent, were confirmed to be functional and ready for deployment.
He said INEC had notified its national headquarters about the faulty devices for replacement.
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The commission also conducted a display of the voter register for claims and objections across Benue’s 23 local government areas between October 9 and 15. The exercise generated 1,052 submissions, including 947 claims and 105 objections.
During the same period, 58,581 Permanent Voter Cards were collected across the state.
Idris further said Benue received 101,695 PVCs from INEC headquarters under the first phase of the Continuous Voter Registration and voter transfer exercise.
He urged political parties to begin training their polling agents, particularly on the procedures for uploading and deploying agents to polling units and collation centres.
The REC also called on electoral stakeholders to support efforts to ensure peaceful, free, fair, credible and inclusive elections in the state.
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