From May 1 this year onwards, Electronic Voting Machines and ballot papers will carry photographs of candidates in order to avoid voters being misled by several namesakes in the election fray. An order in this regard has been issued by the Election Commission to all political parties and State Chief Electoral Officers for implementation. The photo will appear between the name and election symbol on the ballot sheet and EVM.
The Commission had noticed that several namesakes in a constituency was bound to create confusion among voters and hence the suggestion to introduce photographs of candidates on the ballot papers, postal ballot papers and ballot papers displayed on EVMs. The order issued by EC Principal Secretary KF Wilfred said, “The Commission has noted that there are many cases where candidates with same or similar names contest from the same constituency. Although appropriate suffixes are added to the names of candidates in the event of two or more candidates having the same name, the Commission considers that additional measures are required for removing confusion in the minds of people at the time of voting.”
Incidentally, this question is still pending in a PIl proceeding before Supreme Court where a young lawyer Akash Gehlot placed the suggestion to display photographs of candidates on EVMs and ballot papers. Impressed by the innovative suggestion, the apex court had sought the response of the Centre and EC. The EC had supported the suggestion but raised practical glitches of space constraint, difficulty to accommodate long names and multiple language options. Designing the new photo ballot papers, the EC specified election candidates to supply stamp size recent photograph with specification of 2 cm height and 2.5 cm width. It even modified the relevant provisions of law under the Conduct of Election Rules giving effect to the photo ballot papers and EVMs.