Residents in Bauchi have turned out in large numbers to cast their votes in Saturday’s rerun election.

The election is being held across 42 polling units in four State Assembly Constituencies.

The Constituencies are Bauchi Central, Zungur/Galambi, Ningi 1 and Madara/Chinade.

Journalists, who monitored the exercise, reported that voting commenced early in most polling centres with a large turnout of women.

The exercise witnessed a massive turnout of female voters at Mararaba Liman Katagum PU 10 and Mutum Primary School PU 016 in Bauchi Central State Constituency.

Also, the election recorded a similarly large turnout of women at Tudun Wada PU 1 and Kofar Fada PU in the Madara/Chinade State Constituency.

Some of the women said that they came out in mass to exercise their franchise.

Aisha Abubakar said that she came to the polling unit at about 7:00 a.m. to cast her vote.

“We thank God that the INEC officials came right on time at about 7:30 a.m. and commenced the arrangement in earnest.

“I cast my vote hoping that our votes will count, and just as the process has been free and fair, we hope that the final result will also be fair,” she said.

Another voter, Rahman Aliyu at Tudun Wada PU 1, said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) went smoothly without glitches.

She lauded INEC and the security personnel for being diligent in the discharge of their duties.

Also commenting, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mohammed Nura, lauded the smooth conduct of the exercise.

“So far, the exercise has been peaceful in all the 42 PUs; there is no issue of malfunction of election machines, materials and missing names of voters.

“By-election is ongoing in 42 PUs of four State Assembly Constituencies in Bauchi, Ningi and Katagum Local Government Areas,” he said

Mr Nura also commended voters for conducting themselves in order and coming out in large numbers to cast their votes peacefully.

“We are encouraged by the large turnout of the voters; we didn’t expect that number, but it still went well.

“Because of the large turnout, we are compelled to inform security agencies to deploy more personnel for crowd control.

“We are, in fact, satisfied with the zeal of the voters coming to cast their votes accordingly,” he said

The REC advised political parties to play by the rules and shun acts capable of disrupting the process and urged voters to stay 10–15 metres away from the centre to facilitate the smooth conduct of the exercise.

(NAN)