Section 42
Format of ballot papers(1) The Commission shall prescribe the format of the ballot papers which shall include the symbol adopted by the political party of the candidate and such other information as it may require.
(2) The ballot papers shall be numbered serially with differentiating colours for each office being contested.
(3) The Commission shall, not later than 20 days to an election, invite in writing, a political party that nominated a candidate in the election to inspect its identity appearing on samples of relevant electoral materials proposed for the election and the political party may state in writing within two days of being so invited by the Commission that it approves or disapproves of its identity as it appears on the samples.
(4) Unless the political party disapproves of its identity under subsection (3) in writing, it shall not complain of unlawful exclusion from the election under this Act in relation to its identity appearing on electoral materials used for the election.
(5) A political party that fails to comply with an invitation by the Commission under subsection (3) shall be deemed to have approved its identity on samples of electoral materials proposed to be used for an election.
This provision empowers INEC to prescribe the format for ballot papers. This is in line with the commission’s constitutional duty to organize elections. It seeks to guarantee authenticity of the ballot paper, inject strict controls on its production, use and distribution and provide assurance to voters that all ballots in the ballot box are genuine and have been properly issued. Subsection (2) dispenses with the requirement in the repealed Act that it should be bound in booklets.
In addition, INEC is now required to invite political parties to inspect their party identity on sample election materials (e.g., names and symbols on ballots) no later than 20 days to an election. Parties on their part have to approve or disapprove, failure of which their approval will be implied. They will also be precluded from later complaining of unlawful exclusion based on mistaken identity on election materials if they fail to honour INEC’s invitation.
Note: The non-inclusion of a symbol of a political party on a ballot used to be a basis for nullifying an election on grounds of unlawful exclusion of a candidate by INEC. In older cases, the Courts held that failure to include a party logo is tantamount to non-compliance with the Act. See AGBAJE V. FASHOLA (2008) 6 NWLR (PT. 1082) 90.
However, the current state of the law is that unlawful exclusion is no more a ground for petitioning an election and complaints about missing party logos or symbols are now treated as pre-election matters. These kinds of complaints are covered by section 285 (14)(c) CFRN 1999 which defines a pre-election matter to include suits by a political party against INEC challenging its action, decision or activities or for non-compliance with the Electoral Act or any other law in the process of nomination of its candidate.
GBOGBOLOMO MARYAM, NNPP V. INEC, ALLI SHARAFADEEN ABIODUN & APC (CA/IB/EP/SEN/11/2023) (Unreported)
Appellants complained that INEC failed to include their logo/name/acronym on the ballot for Oyo South Senatorial District Election. The Court of Appeal stated that section 42(3) of the Electoral Act gives a timeframe for political parties to inspect their logos before the election (which the Petitioners in this case did not do). It was held that the issue bordering on a party's identity is a pre-election matter which a Tribunal cannot entertain.
UDEAGHA V. OMEGARA (2010) 11 NWLR (PT. 1204) 161It was held that ballot papers should comply with the provisions of section 44 (1) of the Electoral Act [now section 42(1)] and shall include the symbol adopted by the political party of the candidate.
