EC all Set to Curb Dummy Namesakes Ahead of next month’s Assembly elections in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission is all set to have the photographs of candidates on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to curb the menace of dummy namesakes. Dummy candidates often poll more votes than the winning margin of the successful candidate. The recent Lok Sabha elections had witnessed a trend, where around half of the constituencies had two or more candidates with similar names. The poll panel has been asked by the Supreme Court to consider implementing the changes in the EVM from the upcoming elections. An apex court Bench headed by Justice Vikramjit Sen has directed the EC to consider the changes at the earliest. The poll panel too has accepted the court’s suggestion of having photographs on the EVM and has informed the court that they have formed a Committee which is looking into the technicalities of the same like as to how photos can be accommodated since there is very little space available on the ballot paper used in the machines. The court’s directive followed a PIL by Delhi resident Akash Gahlot that had sought directions for mandatory display of photographs of people contesting the elections on EVMs. It was alleged in the PIL that people with dummy namesakes contest elections to confuse the voters. The court has also asked the poll panel to submit a list of all such instances, where the voters had wrongly cast their votes to candidates with identical names. Source : newindianexpress/nation/EC-all-Set-to-Curb-Dummy-Namesakes/2014/11/02/article2504067.ece
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 10:50:54 +0000
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