Seventeen of the 90 Assembly seats in Haryana, which will go to polls on October 15, have candidates with the same names, causing a concern among contestants who see it as a ploy by oppoisition parties to confuse voters. Among the constituencies where namesakes are in the fray are Thansear, Indri, Gharaunda, Israna (R), Sonipat, Jind, Rania, Adampur, Narnaund, Barwala, Dadri, Garhi Sampal Kiloi, Bahadurgarh, Gurgaon, Sohana and Badhkal.
Candidates of almost all major parties like BJP, INLD, Congress, Haryana Janhit Congress, Haryana Lokhit Party and BSP are facing namesakes. Though the voting machine displays the party symbols of all contestants against their names, candidates are concerned about the possibility of identical or near-identical names confusing the voters. INLD president Ashok Arora, seeking re-election from Thanesar, is facing an Independent candidate Ashok among the 14 contestants in the seat.
The scenario is worse for Raj Singh Mor, INLD candidate from Narnaud. Besides Captain Abhimanyu of BJP, he is up against three Independent candidates with the name Raj Singh. While two of the Raj Singhs are farmers, another claims to be doing private job. Raj Singh Mor is a retired IPS officer. At Israna (R) seat, BJP's Krishan Lal is locking horns with another Krishan of CPI, among nine candidates for the seat.
In Sonipat constituency, where Kavita Jain is the BJP contestant, there are two Independent candidates named Kavita in the fray.
Jain, who is the sitting MLA from the constituency, said fielding of namesakes is a cheap ploy used by opposition parties to cut into her votes. "However, people of the constituency are not fools. They can see through the tricks of the opposition," she said. BJP for the first time is testing electoral waters in Haryana on its own.
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