EC explains why it ordered deactivation of biometric devices

The Electoral Commission has explained why it directed its officers to deactivate all Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) used during the 2020 general elections. 

According to the EC, the deactivation is meant to “preserve the sanctity of the verification data on the BVD and does not delete it.”

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had alleged that the deactivation would lead to the loss of sensitive data.

“This directive is illegal because Regulation 47 (3) of CI 127 states that “The Commission shall, subject to the provisions of these Regulations, (a) retain for a year, documents forwarded to the Commission; and (b) destroy the documents after a year unless otherwise directed by a court,” a statement issued by the NDC said.

But a statement issued by the EC added that “as a matter of fact, several copies of the verification data are kept on the BVD”.

The commission said this was demonstrated to all its stakeholders during an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting which was attended by the NDC’s Deputy General Secretary, Peter Boamah Otokunor.

“It is therefore unfortunate that the NDC would continue to make such misleading allegations,” the EC said.

It further explained that “the BVDs were only activated prior to their use for the elections as a safeguard to ensure that no one was verified before the start of the polls.

“Similarly, at the close of polls, the BVDs were deactivated to prevent any potential mischief of persons being verified after the close of polls.”

The EC assured the public that “all data generated before, during, and after the election has been preserved and will be made available to any interested party in a transparent manner when requested through the laid down process”.