Part II: D – Elections to a House of Assembly
- Subject to the provisions of sections 91 and 113 of this Constitution, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall divide every state in the federation into such number of state constituencies as is equal to three or four times the number of Federal constituencies within that state.
- The boundaries of each State constituency shall be such that the number of inhabitants thereof is as nearly equal to the population quota as is reasonably practicable.
- (1) The Independent National Electoral Commission shall review the division of every State into constituencies at intervals of not less than ten years, and may alter such constituencies in accordance with the provisions of this section to such extent as it may consider desirable in the light of the review.
(2) The Independent National Electoral Commission may at any time carry out such a review and alter the constituencies in accordance with the provisions of this section to such extent as it considers necessary in consequence of any alteration of the boundaries of the State or by reason of the holding of a census of the population of Nigeria in pursuance of an Act of the National Assembly.
- Where the boundaries of any State constituency established under section 112 of this Constitution are altered in accordance with the provisions of section 114 of this Constitution, that alteration shall come into effect after it has been approved by the National Assembly and after the current life of the House of Assembly.
- (1) Elections to a House of Assembly shall be held on a date to be appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission in accordance with the Electoral Act,.
(2) The date mentioned in subsection (1) of this section shall not be earlier than one hundred and fifty days and not later than thirty days on which the House of Assembly stands dissolved, or where the election is to fill a vacancy occurring more than three months before such date, not later than one month after the vacancy occurred.
- (1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every State constituency established in accordance with the provisions of this part of this Chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to a House of Assembly in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.
(2) Every citizen of Nigeria, who has attained the age of eighteen years residing in Nigeria at the time of the registration of voters for purposes of election to any legislative house, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter for that election.
- The registration of voters and the conduct of elections shall be subject to the direction and supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
- The National Assembly shall make provisions as respects –
(a) persons who may apply to an election tribunal for the determination of any question as to whether –
(i) any person has been validly elected as a member of a House of Assembly,
(ii) the term of office of any person has ceased, or
(iii) the seat in a House of Assembly of a member of that House has become vacant;
(b) circumstances and manner in which, and the conditions upon which, such application may be made; and
(c) powers, practice and procedure of the election tribunal in relation to any such application.
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