In a major decision to facilitate voters in identifying their candidates while exercising their franchise, Delhi State Election Commission has decided to affix photographs of the candidates on EVMs in the upcoming MCD elections in 2017. The move will also help Independent candidates to kick off their election campaign much in advance by using their pictures as symbols.
“The commission has already decided to print ballot papers to be affixed on the EVMs with photos of the contesting candidates as has been done by the Election Commission of India. The decision will be implemented in the future elections assigned to this commission,” said Girish Pandey, Deputy Secretary of the Commission in a letter to a voluntary organisation on July 21. The reply was given in response to a letter of the organisation on July 7 and subsequent protest on July 21 at the office of the Commission.
On May 1, 2015, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had ordered to affix photographs of the candidates on EVMs in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections while the state election commissions were given discretion to follow the order. If implemented, Delhi would be the first state to affix photographs of candidates on EVMs.
Senior AAP leader Deepak Bajpai lauded the move and said: “We welcome transparency in the election system. The voters must be given maximum possible information about whom they are going to elect. This is basic requirement of the democracy and we welcome all the measures in this direction,” said Bajpai.
Leader of House in North MCD Vijay Prakash Pandey also praised the decision. “In MCD elections, rivals are used to pitching ‘dummy’ candidates of similar names and background to confuse voters. This often results in diversion of votes and loss for genuine candidates. The new system of affixing photos on EVMs will abolish such a practice,” said Pandey.