A vendor shows political badges of BJP and Congress at a shop, ahead of Maharashtra Assembly elections, in Nagpur.
Credit: PTI Photo
Pune: As major political parties focus on resolving differences internally and among allies ahead of the November 20 assembly elections, candidates in some constituencies have to deal with a different challenge – Independents with identical names.
In the Tasgaon-Kavathe Mahakal constituency in Sangli district, where Rohit Raosaheb Patil, the son of late NCP leader and former home minister R R Patil, is contesting against Ajit Pawar-led NCP's Sanjay Kaka Patil, three more candidates with similar names as his are also in the fray.
The NCP (SP) has been stumped by Rohit Ravsaheb Patil, Rohit Rajgonda Patil, and Rohit Rajendra Patil, who are contesting as Independent candidates.
Parties say identical names can confuse voters and cost them dearly if the victory margin is thin.
In Pune, Bapusaheb Tukaram Pathare, the NCP (SP) candidate from the Vadgaon Sheri assembly seat, has sought the disqualification of an Independent candidate with an identical name alleging that he has made incomplete disclosures.
Pathare is pitted against MLA Sunil Tingre of Ajit Pawar-led NCP for the November 20 polls.
One Bapu Baban Pathare, a resident of Ahilyanagari district, has filed his nomination as an Independent candidate. The election officials, however, have accepted his candidature.
In the Parvati constituency in Pune, where NCP (SP) leader Ashwini Nitin Kadam is contesting against BJP MLA Madhuri Misal, two more Independent candidates with similar names have filed their nominations.
One of them is his namesake ‘Ashwini Nitin Kadam'. The other is Ashwini Vijay Kadam.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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