Dummy candidates confuse Indian voters

In another elaborate ploy to fool voters, “dummy” candidates have been popping up around the country, who share names with well known politicians like Narendra Modi, Hema Malini and Chandulal Sahu. The tactic is to confuse voters and fool them into selecting the wrong person inside the polling booth.

Narendra Modi, the election frontrunner and prime ministerial candidate for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), briefly encountered a threat from a namesake in his constituency in Gujrat. The unknown candidate was a member of Congress, but pulled out fearing reprisals. Hema Malini, the popular Bollywood actress who is contesting in the holy city of Mathura, is contesting alongside two other Hema Malinis. The below combination of photographs shows Independent candidate for Amritsar, Amarinder Singh, as he campaigns in the village of Chogawan and former chief minister of Punjab and Congress candidate, Amarinder Singh.

The tactic reached a new high in Chandulal Sahu’s constituency in Chattisgarh when he found himself running against seven competitors who share his name. “What can one do? It’s a conspiracy by my rivals. But such gimmicks won’t work,” Sahu said. “Voters in my area are aware and I am confident they will vote for the right Sahu.”

One of Aam Admi Party’s (AAP) star campaigners – Ashutosh, a former TV anchor who uses only one name – found himself up against a namesake whose symbol is a carrot and will be featured next to his name on the electronic voting machines. In black and white the carrot looks deceptively similar to AAP’s symbol, which is a broom.

Although what these “dummy candidates” are doing is not illegal by law, the Election Commission has been trying to keep a tab on these dubious candidates. "We put up a list of all contesting candidates next to their symbols outside every polling booth for awareness," said Delhi’s additional chief electoral officer, Neeraj Bharati. "But it really boils down to the real candidates. They must do good propaganda and expose the proxy candidate," he added.

The chief editor of a prominent news channel explained to reporters the reason why it was worth investing in underhand tactics like “dummy candidates”. “Even if the dummy manages to eat a little bit into the share of his namesake, the job is done as the victory margins are often narrow,” he explained. "If you give him big money, he will do anything for you."