IMPHAL, Feb 27: A candidate of Thanlon assembly constituency, namely T Nengzakham has filed a writ petition to Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench regarding an error which appeared in his name on the electronic voting machine.
Pronouncing the judgement today, Justice T Vaiphei has directed the returning officer of Churachandpur to report the error in Nengkhazam’s name to the Election Commission of India within five days.
According to the petitioner, he filed the nomination forms for 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly Election from 56-Thanlon assembly constituency by the name “T Nengzakham”. However, his name appeared only as “Nengzakham” on the electronic voting machine without the prefix “T” which stands for the name of his clan in Paite tribe.
Nengzakham maintained that the error in his name has deprived him of his valuable right to be properly and correctly identified by the concerned voters as one of the contesting candidates and, therefore, of his chance of winning.
Aggrieved by the error, he immediately approached the returning officer of Churachandpur on January 29 and again on February 1 by filing written representations for displaying his correct name in the EVM and thereafter order re-poll for all polling stations of Thanlon assembly constituency. However, the returning officer failed to dispose the representations of the petitioner.
The judge has also pointed out laxity on the part of the returning officer in taking up immediate action upon the complaint.