'Ram, Ram, Ram', it’s poll time again

Gertrude Stein toasted individual identity with ‘A rose is a rose is a rose’. However, in India, with a population of over 1.3 billion, without a corresponding number of names, nominal identity can be hazy when several individuals share the same moniker. According to a recent survey, in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, there were at least 20 constituencies where two contestants were identically sound-alikes, though not lookalikes, and in state assembly elections since 2014, there were108 constituencies across 19 states that fielded same-name candidates. The duplication of names can make electoral choice a chancy business: voters might discover that while a Ram is a Ram is a Ram, the three are very different and the one they voted for turns out to be the wrong Ram.

Prudently, the Election Commission is planning to display on the EVMs the candidates’ photographs along with their party symbols to ensure that voters back the correct horse, or Harsh, of their choice. While such facial recognition aids are not necessary in the cases of Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, the two, respectively, reportedly have at least 53 and 390 namesakes, though these are not poll contestants currently. Just to be safe, however, the PM and would-be PM could do worse than register their trademark names, to ensure there is no NaMo but NaMo, and a RaGa is a RaGa is a RaGa.