SC wants Centre, EC views on photos on EVMs

The Supreme Court on Friday sought to know the Centre as well as Election Commission’s stand on a plea for including photograph of a candidate, along with election symbol, in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and ballot papers, to check “menace” of dummy namesakes contesting elections from the same constituency.

A three-judge bench, presided over by Chief Justice R M Lodha, said “the idea is good” as the petitioner, Delhi-resident Akash Gahlot, contended that incorporating the picture of the candidates in EVMs would reduce the confusion in electors’ minds.

Before agreeing to hear the PIL, the court had asked the petitioner if he approached the Election Commission. To this, Gahlot said his plea did not elicit any response from the EC.

In his PIL, Gahlot said: “The menace of dummy/clone candidates has increased manifold in the recent elections as the campaigning time has been reduced to 14 days and no corresponding step has been taken to plug the loopholes.

It has become increasingly difficult to memorise the election symbol... in a short span of time. Having photographs of the contesting candidates is the most obvious choice to plug this menace.”

In spite of plenary powers, the EC failed to curb the problem of namesakes, which has acquired epidemic proportions in the just-concluded general elections, he said.

The petitioner cited example of Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh, where 11 Chandus were in the fray. There were also namesakes of famous and well known faces like Hema Malini, the BJP candidate from Mathura.

In the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, there was a lot of confusion over election symbols such as broom and torch.

The defeat of CPM candidate P M Ismail in the Muvattupuzha constituency in 2004 is a glaring instance of this, he said, adding that he lost to P C Thomas of the National Democratic Alliance by just 529 votes in a triangular contest.

He felt he would have won the election if his namesakes had not garnered 3,466 votes.