The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan says the commission is yet to come up with a back-up plan for the voter verification system that is scheduled for the December 7 elections. Dr. Afari Gyan told journalists at a forum in Accra that the commission would have to train 23,000 people to operate the verification machines adding that although they anticipate some challenges with the verification machines, it is yet to meet the political parties to draft alternative measures. He insisted the EC would go ahead to create new constituencies despite concerns that have been raised about the move and its proximity to the upcoming elections. The EC Chairman maintained that it is the Commission's constitutional mandate to create new constituencies particularly at a time when new census figures have been released. According to the EC, its initial arrangements were to create an additional 20 constituencies but the creation of more districts by the government meant that more constituencies would have to be created proportional to the newly created districts. The EC further stated the newly created districts in the Volta Region exceeded its quota thus the EC had to compensate other regions which could see the number of constituencies rise to 275 from the original 230. Article 45(b) of the 1992 Constitution gives EC the mandate to demarcate electoral boundaries for national and local government elections.