Kochi: Namesakes will have a happy ride during the local bodies’ polls as the candidates’ photos will not be used in the electronic voting machines.
State Election Commissioner K. Sasidharan Nair told DC that there are over 22,000 constituencies at five levels of local bodies across the state.
It was not feasible to use the photographs in EVMs for such a big electoral exercise. He, however, added that no final decision had been taken in this regard.
In a statement before Kerala High Court, the election commission had made it clear that photographs would be used in the next Assembly and Parliament elections but refused to mention anything about the local body elections.
The Election Commission of India had introduced the system whereby the candidates’ pictures are shown distinctly on the ballot paper/voting machine so that the voters are not mislead or deceived.
There are many cases where candidates with the same or similar names contest from the same constituency. Additional measures were required to remove the confusion of electors at the time of voting, it said.
