Not one, four ‘Sumalathas’ in Mandya!

Bengaluru: In what seems to be a bid to confuse voters of Mandya parliamentary constituency where Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh is contesting, three women, with the same name ‘Sumalatha —  filed their nomination papers in Mandya on Tuesday.

While the first is Sumalatha Gowda from Srirangapatna,  the second is Sumalatha from KR Pete and the third, Sumalatha Dream from Nagamangala. All of them are said to be workers of JD(S)  which has put up Nikhil Kumaraswamy son of the CM, as its candidate in the seat.

The ‘name game ’ is one of the oldest tricks adopted by political parties to confuse voters about the rival candidate while exercising their franchise. Candidates named Deve Gowda, Revanna and Yeddyurappa have been pitted against their eminent rivals in the past. The same trick is now being used against Sumalatha Ambareesh,  said sources. The solace for the  actress is that  there would a passport size picture of her in the EVMs that would help voters identify her at the time of voting.

However,  Sumalatha has a disadvantage— she is not the official candidate of any recognised political party like the Congress, BJP or JD(S) which have their dedicated symbols. In this case,  she has to pick a symbol from the lot which is suitable and can be identified by rural voters.