In fray: Same name, rival candidates Cong’s Barkha Singh joins BJP
DOUBLE ROLE One in every five wards has at least two people with same name contesting Sunday’s poll; experts say rival parties use dummy candidates to cut votes of opponents
MCD polls, one in every five wards has at least two people with the same name contesting. Hindustan Times, after going through the complete list of candidates of the 272 wards across the three corporations, found out that 56 wards have at least two people with the same name contesting in Sunday’s election. Voting for the 272 wards across the city will be held on Sunday.
In east Delhi’s Brahm Puri, three Raj Kumars are vying for the councillor seat — one is a BJP candidate, another has been nominated by CPI, while the third is an Independent. In south civic body’s Manglapuri, BJP’s Krishan Kumar Godara is competing against Independent Krishan Mohan Pandey and Congress’ Maya Devi will figure on the ballot with an independent candidate also named Maya. In the same ward, two Independent candidates named Vijay will also be competing.
Political pundits say this is not a unique phenomenon and is used by political parties to cut votes of their opponents.
Sanjay Kumar, director at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, said this is a negative strategy used by rival political parties.
“These candidates with similar names are proxy candidates. They are used to cut votes. Now people with similar names are plotted as a dummy candidate to create some sort of confusion so that votes for a candidate, usually from an established political party, get divided,” he said.
According to him, in smaller election, where the number of votes is less, this strategy becomes effective.
In north Delhi’s Kadipur, Congress’ Neetu Singh is fight- ing against two other Independent candidates named Neetu.
When HT caught up with the Congress candidate , she was busy with last minute campaigning. “It might be so. We are not aware of it. We are pushing hard in the final couple of hours to reach as many voters as possible,” one of her aides said, when asked about her competitors.
Even after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the AAP candidate for the West Delhi seat, Jarnail Singh, had alleged that two other candidates sharing his name had cost him the seat as it confused the voters.
Although Singh lost to BJP’s Pravesh Verma by a margin of 2,68,586 votes, he claimed that the other two Jarnail Singhs — who together bagged 90,682 votes — queered the pitch for him. The two Jarnail Singhs, one with the symbol of a shuttlecock and another with the torch symbol, bagged 84,722 and 5,960 votes.
Parties, however, are aware of this “strategy” and have been asking candidates to make their serial number clear to voters of their respective wards. A Delhi BJP spokesperson, Harish Khurana, said all party candidates have been sensitised on how to tackle the confusion because of these namesakes.
“We have been guiding all candidates to clearly mention their serial number in every poster and pamphlet so that there remains no confusion regarding who the people are voting for. I have personally suffered due to this. My father, Madan Lal Khurana, had a namesake in a Lok Sabha election who took away 16,000 votes with a tree sign,” Khurana said.
The party’s Subhash Nagar candidate Gagan Deep Sahni says another Gagan Sahni is contesting as an Independent with a cauliflower sign. “I am popularly known as Gagan Sahni and the other parties have used that by fielding this dummy candidate. I have asked voters to not get confused and vote for the right man with the correct symbol and serial number,” Sahni said.
head of Delhi Congress women’s wing Barkha Singh, who was expelled from the party on Friday, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a day later. She was inducted into the party by BJP vice-president Shyam Jaju on Saturday morning.
Last week, former MLA and senior Delhi Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely had joined the BJP.
“Previous leadership would have public support while it is being run presently by a few leaders. I have joined BJP, but I don’t want any position or election ticket. I quit the post not the Congress. After my expulsion, I decided to switch side because they suspended me,” she said.
Singh, a former Congress MLA from RK Puram was also the chief of the Delhi Commission for Woman. Singh said she has joined the BJP because she is impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies.
“I had written to PM on the issue of triple talaq in 2014. I appreciate PM policies,” she said.
On Friday, the disciplinary committee of Delhi Congress had expelled Singh for six years for undertaking anti-party activities just before the MCD election on April 23. The decision had come a day after Singh quit her party post and criticised the Central leadership.
“The four member disciplinary committee in its meeting on Friday unanimously decided to expel Barkha Singh for antiparty activities. A resolution to this effect has been passed,” Aman Panwar, in charge of the party’s legal affairs had earlier said while announcing Singh’s expulsion.
Singh had resigned as president of the women’s wing of Delhi Congress on Thursday, saying she was not leaving the party, but only the post.
Singh had also criticised the Congress leadership for not listening to workers’ grievances.
These candidates with similar names are proxy candidates. They are used to cut votes. People with similar names are plotted as dummy candidates.