AAP’s East Delhi candidate, who has been campaigning under the name “Atishi”, filed the affidavit under the name “Atishi Marlena” on Monday.
Ms. Atishi had dropped her second name, ‘Marlena’, from Twitter handle and all party publicity materials. This happened after rumours of her being Christian or foreigner started doing the rounds, both she and AAP had said.
When asked about her name being “Atishi Marlena” in the affidavit, she told The Hindu on Monday: “That is my legal name. But I have decided to fight the election using my first name and the EVM would say ‘Atishi’.” A senior official of the poll panel said a candidate can use the name given in the nomination paper in the EVM and it could be different from the affidavit.
Attacking the name change, BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor, tweeted: “@AamAadmiParty leader when came to politics, the name was #AtishiMarlena. After few days she became #AtishiSingh on hoardings on programs and @AtishiAAP in Twitter. Today #AtishiMARLENA in election nomination. What is the secret of this #MARLENA? [sic]”