New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea to ban namesakes of candidates from contesting polls.
The court said that it cannot stop people from contesting polls if they are named after political leaders.
A public interest litigation filed by petitioner Sabu Stephen argued that namesake candidates mislead voters in high-profile seats.
Namesakes often lead to heavyweight candidates losing by a slim margin, the petitioner pointed out, seeking the court to direct the Election Commission to stop the trend for ensuring free and fair election.
However, Justice BR Gavai said: "If parents have given similar names to candidates, how can they be prevented from contesting polls? Like Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad Yadav."
Fielding namesakes of heavy weight candidates by rival parties is an old-time trick to confuse voters.
The idea is to cut down the number of votes favouring the leader, harming the heavyweight.
The case in point is the popping up of four namesakes of former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam in the Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha seat.
The four independent candidates to take on the former AIADMK leader are Ochappan Panneerselvam, Oyya Thevar Panneerselvam, Ocha Thevar Panneerselvam, and Oyyaram Panneerselvam.
The trick is widely used in other states as well. In Maharashtra's Raigad seat, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) candidate Anant Geete has two rival Anant Geetes in the constituency.