Independents whose names are confusingly similar to those of official party candidates

“What’s in a name?” asks Kolhapur. Despite the cliché, it seems that a number of independent candidates are using it as a tactic to mislead voters during the current election season.

There are independent candidates running in four of the eleven Maharashtra Lok Sabha seats where the third round of voting is set for May 7. These candidates’ names sound close to those of the official political party nominees.

An independent candidate under the name of Sharad Ram Pawar, whose name is similar to that of NCP (SCP) president Sharad Pawar, is running in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat against NCP’s Sunetra Pawar. Another contender goes by the name Sunita Pawar, which sounds a lot like Sunetra Pawar.

Satyajeet Babasaheb Patil (Aaba) Sarudkar, a candidate for the Shiv Sena (UBT), is running in Hatkanangle. Voters may be misled in this case by the independent candidate Satyajeet Patil (Aaba). Two candidates running for the same seat have the surname Mane: Parshuram Mane and Rajendra Bhimrao Mane. These two may be mistaken for Dhairyasheel Mane, a candidate for the Shiv Sena. Raju Shetti, the leader of Swabhimani Paksha, was beaten by the Sena candidate in 2019 by about one lakh votes. Raju Mujikrao Shetti, an independent, was running at the time and had accumulated 8,103 votes. Anant Geete of the Shiv Sena and Sunil Tatkare of the NCP are fighting in Raigad.The Sena candidate will be hoping that Anant Padma Gite and Anant Baloji Gite, the other two independent candidates with identical names, do not try to ruin the election for him. Sunil Dattaram Tatkari, one of the election candidates, has already withdrew. Remarkably, official NCP candidate Sunil Tatkare lost the 2014 election by a mere 2,110 votes, while an independent called Sunil Tatkare received 9,889 votes.

Sena (UBT) candidate Vinayak Raut is running against BJP candidate Narayan Rane in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg. But Vinayak Lavu Raut, an independent, may have an impact on his vote total.

Voters are advised by political science professionals to consider more than simply a candidate’s name. Before casting their vote, they should look up the candidate’s name, the party name, and the symbol.

“Political parties look for and field candidates whose names are identical to or similar to those of their competitors. Such tactics are designed to deceive the public and reduce the support of competing political candidates. Voters often focus only on the party emblem. Voters who can read and write only look up a candidate’s name; similar-sounding names might cause confusion, as happened with Sunil Tatkare. Election officials and political parties must to educate voters and train them to distinguish between candidates with similar names, according to Ravindra Bhanage, a professor at Shivaji University Kolhapur’s political science department.