New Delhi, Nov. 23: A rose by any other name may smell just as sweet, but not in the garden of Indian electoral politics.

The BJP has been left red-faced in poll-bound Assam after misspelling names of its senior state officials in a formal announcement, which has provoked charges of "cultural appropriation" and efforts at "Indianising" Assamese names.

Six of the 10 names have been spelt incorrectly on a list of its new state office-bearers the party released on Saturday, with some of them indeed converted to their north Indian equivalents.

One of the victims is Union sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who has been appointed state BJP president. The list, prepared by national BJP general secretary Arun Singh, calls him "Sarbanand Sonwal".

Not only is "-anand" a typically north Indian spelling, the omission of a single vowel has transported the Assamese "Sonowal" to the opposite end of the country - BJP-ruled Rajasthan.

Outgoing state unit chief Siddhartha Bhattacharya has been twice bitten, becoming "Siddharth" as vice-chairman of the Assam BJP's election management committee and "Siddarth" as its national spokesperson for the Northeast.

Bhattacharya played the mistakes down as typing errors but conceded that more care should have been taken.

Sanjoy Hazarika, a professor at the North East Study Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia, said people across the Northeast are sensitive about identities and that the lack of care in preparing the list betrayed a lack of sensitivity towards regional sentiments.

If caste politics is key to elections in states like Bihar, understanding of ethnic groups and communities is equally important in the Northeast. Many felt that errors in pronunciation can be overlooked but such spelling gaffes on official documents are a more serious matter.

Udayon Misra, an author and a professor in Guwahati, said the errors were not funny. "It's part of a greater cultural appropriation that is happening," he said.

Banani Chakravarty, who teaches Assamese at Gauhati University, said such misspellings amounted to "mutilating" a name and an identity.

"It's an attempt to mainstream and homogenise Assam by 'Indianising' the names," she alleged.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, a former Congress minister and mass leader who recently joined the BJP, has turned into "Hement Viswa Sharma", a name that could have belonged to someone from the heartland.

Bijoya Chakravarty, an MP from Guwahati, finds her gender and surname changed into "Bijoy Chakraborty" while her fellow election management committee member Rajdeep Roy has become "Rajdeep Ray".

Jorhat MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa's name has been misspelled as "Kamakhya Tasha".

Manoj Kumar Das, a member of the cultural body Assam Association, said people everywhere were sensitive about their names.

With polls in Assam due in April-May next year, the BJP has little time to brush up on its knowledge of Assamese name spellings.