Mumbai: The State Election Commission (SEC), currently preparing for the upcoming local and civic body elections, has decided to allow women candidates to use both their names – before or after marriage – on electronic voting machines (EVMs), if they desired.
The decision offers a choice to the women candidates, but with a condition that the nomination paper can be filed as per their name in the voters' list.
Nomination must match name in voters' list; additional application required
The state has reserved 50% seats in the local and civic bodies for women. The decision by the SEC, issued recently, says that after filing the nomination, women candidates can submit an application to the returning officer and request to have their pre-marriage or post-marriage name along with the name in the voters' list. This application can be submitted before the withdrawal date of the candidature.
Marriage certificate or official name-change proof mandatory
The desirable candidates will have to submit some documents, such as the marriage certificate and a gazette notification, if they have changed their name after marriage. If the gazette notification is not available, they can submit one of the 17 proofs prescribed by the SEC in 2011, says the order signed by Suresh Kakani, the secretary of the Election Commission.
The women candidates can request that both names appear on the EVM, but that can be fit into the available space on the machine, the SEC has clarified.
When contacted, the Kakani said the decision will benefit the women candidates as they will have a choice to maintain their identity before the electorate. Some women candidates are known by their maiden names, but some of them with their changed names after marriage.
The state has 29 municipal corporations, 244 municipal councils and 147 nagar panchayats, 32 zilla parishads and 336 panchayat samitis due for the elections.
The seats reserved for women candidates in the corporations are more than 1370, whereas 3,885 seats are reserved in councils and nagar panchayats.
