New Delhi: There are 12 constituencies in Delhi where independent candidates are contesting polls with election symbol that looks like ‘broom' – also the symbol of Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Moreover, the names of the candidates are also same to that of AAP. And as a result of this, in December 2013 polls, AAP secured the second position in 19 constituencies. The difference between the top two parties in all such seats was marginal.
The party had then alleged that factors like common election symbols and same name were the reasons behind this failure. Following this, the Election Commission had removed symbols like ‘torch focus' and ‘carrot' and ‘brush'. The EC, however, didn't remove the ‘torch' and ‘brush' symbol from its list.
From Nangloi seat, independent candidate Raghuwendra Singh's election symbol is ‘torch'. He is contesting against AAP's Raghubind.
Likewise, from Rajouri Garden, Independent candidate Jarnail Singh's election symbol is ‘razor'. And more interestingly, the name of AAP's candidate is also Jarnail Singh.
On similar lines, an independent candidate Rajesh with election symbol torch is contesting against AAP's Rajesh Gupta, Naresh Baliyan from Uttam Nagar is facing Naresh Kumar with bat , Dwarka's Adarsh Shashtri is facing Adarsh Kumar with trumpet as election symbol, Kailash Gehlot from Najafgarh facing Kailash Chand with Bouquet of flowers , Somnath Bharati from Malviya Nagar facing Somnath with green chilly , from Jangpura, Praveen Kumar is facing Praveen with Brush symbol, Avtar Singh with torch has been fielded against AAP's Avtar Singh in Kalkaji, from Sangam Vihar, Dinesh Prasad with television, is contesting Dinesh of AAP.
Meanwhile, it is being said, a prominent leader of a major party has directed his party workers to find out the persons resembling the names of the AAP candidates and field them as independent candidate but since the election commission has omitted symbols like torch focus and carrot, it would not reap benefits as per their previous plan.
Since AAP had gained 28 seats in the last assembly elections, it has received the status of a state party. This will increase the possibility of other party symbols being put far below the AAP's broom. In an EVM, in an alphabetical order, national parties are followed by state parties followed by other parties and finally independents coming at last.
