Ten namesakes remain in the election fray in Ernakulam district after the deadline for withdrawing nominations to the upcoming Assembly election ended on Monday.
Namesakes against major candidates have entered the electoral battlefield in many of the 14 constituencies in the district, including Kothamangalam, Piravom and Vypeen.
M.M. Yousuf, the LDF candidate in Kalamassery constituency, has two namesakes, P.K. Yosuf and Yousuf Kodopilly. In Vypeen, one K.S. Subash is contesting against K.R. Subash, the UDF candidate.
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Similarly, M. Swaraj, the LDF candidate in Tripunithura, has to take on one Swaraj Manickathan. M.Anilkumar, the LDF candidate in Ernakulam, has two namesakes, K.K. Anil Kumar and Anil Kumar Puliyoth, while Civil Supplies Minister Anoop Jacob has to compete with another Anoop in Piravom, in addition to the LDF candidate.
In Kothamangalam, namesakes are posing troubles to both the LDF and UDF candidates. While Antony John of the LDF has to face another Antony John, T.U. Kuruvila, the sitting MLA, will have to fight it out with one T.K. Kuruvila.
Interestingly, the constituencies of Muvattupuzha and Thrikkakara, which have the least number of candidates at 11 each, have no namesakes in the candidates’ list.
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Taking into consideration the namesakes threat, campaigners are now highlighting party symbols rather than the name of candidates as the namesake candidates could play spoilsport by bagging some crucial votes.
Though namesakes usually stay away from campaigning, it does not guarantee that the voters recognise the official candidates when they reach the polling station.
Voters’ list
Meanwhile, the number of voters in Ernakulam district has registered an increase of over two lakhs since the last Assembly elections in 2011.
According to the final voters’ list, the total number of voters has gone up to 24.71 lakh from 22.04 lakhs five years ago. At present, there are 12.09 lakh men and 12.62 lakh women voters in the district compared with the previous 10.93 lakh men and 11.11 lakh women.
Piravom Assembly constituency, which has 1,99,651 voters, continues to top the list in the number of voters. Ernakulam with 1,53,884 voters continues to remain the smallest in the district.
NAME GAME
Namesakes in 14 constituencies in Ernakulam
No namesakes in Muvattupuzha and Thrikkakara
Campaigners highlighting party symbols, rather than names of candidates