Kerala HC asks election officer to decide NDA candidate Anjali Nair's plea to change ballot name by April 4

Ahead of the Kerala Assembly elections, the Kerala High Court has ordered that a decision on NDA candidate Anjali Nair's request to change her name on ballot papers be taken by April 4 by the concerned election officer.

The Court orally expressed that electoral candidates should be allowed to stand for the polls with a name that enables voters to clearly identify them, but left it to the election officials to take a final call.

Anjali Nair, a Malayalam actress who is being fielded by the Twenty20 political party with support from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has raised concerns that her name is recorded as Anjali PV in the electoral records.

She submitted that she is popularly known to the public as Anjali Nair, whereas official records retain her name as Anjali PV.

She has pointed out that this may create confusion among voters when it comes to identifying her name in ballot papers.

Justice PV Kunhikrishnan today found force in her concerns.

"Voters should be able to understand who the candidates are. Let them (candidates) stand for election with a name voters will understand. It is a democracy," the judge orally observed.

He opined that efforts should be made not to confuse voters this way, particularly since political parties are prone to exploit such situations to unfairly divert the votes of candidates who are not clearly identified.

"Say there is a candidate called Kunhikrishnan PV ... I will use my own name (for this example). Suddenly, they (rival political parties) will try to find someone who is Kunhikrishnan TV, Kunjikrishnan KV. It is only to confuse the voters. I am against that. Let them face the election. All political parties are doing this," Justice Kunhikrishnan explained.

The Court, however, left it to the election officials to decide Nair's plea to change her name in ballot papers.

To this end, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan has directed the concerned returning officer to consider a representation submitted by Nair, to conduct a hearing on April 4 at 11:00 AM and pass orders on the same day.

[Live Coverage]