Council gets candidate’s name wrong in General Election announcement
Dev-astated: Hackney South candidate Dave Raval. Photograph: Hackney Lib Dems
Hackney Council printed the wrong name for a General Election candidate in its official nominations list published last week.
The ‘Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll’ for Hackney South and Shoreditch had the Liberal Democrat contender down as Dev Raval.
In fact, it is Dave Raval who is standing for Parliament on 8 June.
The council explained that Mr Raval’s name is actually Dev, which is what he had written on his nominations form, but admitted it should have printed his commonly used name of Dave.
Raval said: “Last year, when I stood for Mayor of Hackney, the Council delayed issuing postal votes as they spelt the name of the Conservative Party incorrectly on all the ballot papers, which had to then be re-printed.
“This year, it was my turn, as Hackney got my name wrong, which meant that the BBC and others also used the wrong name. This has now been changed, so let’s hope the ballot papers are correct!”
@DaveRaval Have they misspelt your name on the official register of nominations? https://t.co/5H5woq6YMc
— Al Binnie-Lubbock (@alastairis) May 12, 2017
The error was spotted on Friday by eagle-eyed Green party hopeful Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, who is running in Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
@DaveRaval Not like @hackneycouncil to misspell important election documents… Oh wait yes it is. :p
— Al Binnie-Lubbock (@alastairis) May 12, 2017
He tweeted Raval, who responded by saying he would get in touch with his election agent.
Raval said: “I’d like to pass on my thanks to Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, who was the first of several people to spot the council’s error, and who let me know immediately.”
A spokesperson for Hackney Council said: “Mr Raval’s name is Dev but his commonly used name is Dave. The statement of persons nominated used the full name he provided on his nomination form, but it should contain his commonly used name. This was corrected on 15 May.”
The council also confirmed that the ballot papers correctly use the name Dave.
Update: this article was amended at 9.50am on 19 May 2017 to include a comment from Hackney Council. The original article also wrongly stated that the error was a breach of electoral law.