The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 198 candidates from 13 political parties would feature in Saturday’s state House of Assembly poll in Ekiti state.

INEC Public Relations Officer in the state, Taiwo Gbadegesin, disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) on Thursday in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

Mr Gbadegesin who spoke on behalf of the state’s INEC Administrative Secretary, Muslim Omoleke, said the commission has put in place necessary mechanism for hitch free conduct of the poll.

He said INEC has distributed non sensitive materials across the 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state for the smooth conduct of the election.

The distribution, according him to him was done in the presence of security agencies and parties’ representatives.

He assured that the commission would not disappoint voters in the state in the conduct of the election.

“The sensitive and non-sensitive materials have been distributed to all the LGAs under heavy security cover.

“We are not taking anything for granted. We tracked all the vehicles to ensure that those materials were not diverted.

“We did not only distribute the materials, but we partnered with security agencies to ensure that they are on ground in all the LGAs to protect them till Saturday.

“Early on Saturday, the materials will be distributed to wards for onward distribution to the polling units.

“Our projection is that the elections must start at 8 a.m., simultaneously in all the 2,195 polling units, the materials, including the reconfigured smart card readers, ballot boxes and papers are in safe custody and under heavy police protection,” he said.

The governorship election in the state was held on July 14, 2018, leaving behind only the state House of Assembly election.

(NAN)