The New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Director of Research and Elections, Evans Nimako, has urged the public to maintain calm and not allow the missing BVD and BVR to create unnecessary tension in the country.

According to him, creating unnecessary tension over the situation will only serve to destabilize the country's electoral system and democratic process.

His comments follow the Electoral Commission's confirmation that about five laptops have been stolen from its stores. It came after rumours of alleged theft of biometric verification devices (BVDs) after the 2023 district-level elections.

Speaking on the JoyNews AM show on May 8, he stated that “we should not create unnecessary in this whole exercise. The issue of missing BVD and BVR that the NDC was confusing it initially until IPAC cleared it that it is a portion of the BVR kits, which is the computer that has been stolen and has been reported.

“They had earlier put forward the issue that it was BVD that was missing, but some things have been stolen at the EC office. EC has reported the issue to the police. Let all those who have information assist with the investigations so we can move on,” he noted.

Mr Nimako expressed concern about an incident in the ongoing new voter's registration exercise where someone registered in Kasoa, Central Region, but received an ID indicating they were from Ayawaso North in the Greater Accra Region.

He stressed that the Electoral Commission must provide explanations for such discrepancies.

“It will all be part of the questions that we would have to put to the EC to let us know how they have done their codes so that this whole issue of a mix up would be addressed,” he stated.