Kerala HC tells returning officer to decide NDA candidate’s plea to change name on EVMs

Kochi: High court has directed the returning officer of Tripunithura assembly constituency to consider the representation submitted by Anjali Nair, the NDA candidate, seeking to have her name on the electronic voting machine (EVM) changed to ‘Anjali Nair' at 11am on Saturday, and to decide the matter after hearing her.The bench of Justice P V Kunhikrishnan was considering a petition by the candidate seeking a directive to display her name on the EVM as ‘Anjali Nair' instead of ‘Anjali P V', noting that she is widely known by the former name.While considering the plea, HC orally observed that a candidate should be easily identifiable to voters, and no candidate should lose votes simply because voters fail to recognise them. HC also criticised the tendency among political parties to field candidates with similar names to prominent contenders, thereby creating confusion among voters. "It's a massacre of democracy. It is only to confuse the voters. It will efface the election," HC remarked.In her petition, Anjali stated that she had campaigned extensively using the name Anjali Nair. She also claimed that her request to the returning officer to update her name had been rejected without explanation, and that the Form 7A list of contesting candidates was published showing her name as Anjali P V. She further cited the proviso to Rule 8(2) of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, which allows a candidate to request a correction of their name before the list of contesting candidates is finalised if it is incorrectly spelt, incorrectly shown, or differs from the name by which the candidate is popularly known. She emphasised that the rule requires the returning officer, once satisfied of the candidate's identity, to make the necessary correction in the list.