Namesakes worry key candidates in fray

While the increasing number of independents in the fray for the April 24 Lok Sabha polls in the State proves to be a challenge for the election machinery, the namesakes of key candidates of major political parties in various constituencies is causing concern for the latter besides having the potential to confuse voters as well.

There are 835 candidates in the fray for the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. Of them, 191 are from the recognised State/National political parties, 137 are from the registered parties other than the recognised ones and 507 independents.

The Election Commission had increased the deposit amount per candidate from Rs. 500 to Rs. 10,000 in 1998 and subsequently to Rs. 25,000 to discourage non-serious candidates in the race. But it does not seem to have the deterrent effect the EC intended to have over the last two general elections.

Confusing voters

Though the ballot unit will have the party symbol against the contestants’ names, candidates are concerned about identical names or near-identical names confusing the voters and thereby bringing down the polling percentage of party nominees. This is likely to be more in rural areas. There were cases of independents entering the fray for the sake of pushing forward a demand or as a rebel following denial of ticket by their respective party.

Of late, though not in all cases, some candidates or their supporters fund the deposit amount for independent candidates.

This is aimed at having candidates in the fray similar or identical with names of official party nominees who may be their political rival. While the final list of candidates still has independents with such identical names, earlier there used to be a situation, wherein candidates of major parties used to hold talks and convince the independents to withdraw.

Just sample this: In Tiruvallur Lok Sabha constituency, Dr. P. Venugopal of AIADMK has another P. Venugopal to contend with. In Chennai North, DMK nominee R. Girirajan is facing the battle of ballots along with an independent with an almost identical name D. Giriraj.

In Chennai South La. Ganesan of BJP has a rival in S. Ganesan an independent.

In Arakkonam Constituency the AIADMK’s nominee G. Hari has two independents with the name S. Hari. The DMK nominee N.R. Elango has to run along with four independents with near-identical names such as D. Elango, N. Elango, A. Elangovan, D. Elangovan.

The Congress nominee R. Rajesh is facing an Aam Admi Party nominee with a similar name, S. Rajesh. The PMK nominee R. Velu is also vying with three independents with the same names, V. Velu, R. Velu and D. Velu.

In Vellore, M. Abdul Rahman of the Indian Union Muslim League has two more independents with the identical name. In Dharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency, Anbumani Ramadoss of the PMK has to take on G. Anbumani, an independent as well.

In Tiruvannamalai, C.N. Annadurai of the DMK has two more independents and in Arani AIADMK nominee V. Elumalai has two independents with the same name. In Arani, A.K. Moorthy has two more Moorthy’s in the fray. In Tirupur, the AIADMK’s nominee V. Sathyabama has two namesakes to contend with.

Pongalur N. Palanisamy of the DMK has two more Palanisamy’s in the fray in Pollachi. In Karur, the DMK’s M. Chinnasamy has two more Chinnasamy’s to take on. There are more such cases in respect of other Lok Sabha constituencies.

Though these candidates are not likely to tilt the scale, changing the imminent victory or defeat of a candidate, in a multi-cornered contest, official party nominees are still worried as the winning or losing margins are likely to be a very slender one in this Lok Sabha poll.