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Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), led by TTV Dinakaran, was expected to fare better in the just-concluded general elections and Assembly by-polls in Tamil Nadu.
The future of the AIADMK government was at stake if he managed to win some Assembly seats or tore into the AIADMK vote banks.
Dinakaran had to contend with not only AIADMK’s organisational and financial muscle but also ‘stalking horses,’ dummy candidates put up by the latter to confuse the voters. This election saw unusually high number of such candidates who with similar or same name as AMMK candidates, confused the voter in the absence of a strong party symbol, thereby splitting the votes. In a close contest, the vote spilt tend to have a significant impact.
Too many Subramanians
The Sattur Assembly constituency witnessed the maximum number of such candidates. AMMK’s SG Subramanian had to contend with five other candidates with similar names – two K Subramanians; S Subramanian; R Subramanian and R Subramaniyan. The ploy had a minimal impact as these candidates collectively polled just 1,219 votes against SG Subramanian’s 12,428 votes, who came a distant third.
At Perumbur, Dhinakaran’s righthand man P Vetrivel had competition from P Vetrivel and G Vetrivel. Similarly, at Tiruvarur (where by-poll was held due to the demise of DMK leader M Karunanidhi), S Kamaraj of the AMMK had to face B Kamaraj and P Kamaraj.
Though none of the dummy candidates made a significant impact (all the by-poll seats were won by either DMK or AIADMK), the sheer number of such candidates surprised political observers. “No one really expected Dinakaran to fare so badly,” one of them said.
LS candidates
The trend was witnessed in the Lok Sabha polls too. In Coimbatore, BJP’s CP Radhakrishnan had to compete with U Radhakrishnan and P Radhakrishnan. Similarly, in Arakonam, PMK’s AK Moorthy fought against G Moorthy and C Moorthy.
According to N Sathiya Moorthy, political analyst and Director of Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter, dummy candidates is an old problem, from panchayat poll upwards. AIADMK booth-level cadres seemed to have worked overtime against AMMK than on winning the election. Dhinakaran committed a huge blunder by delaying the move for a common symbol and did not have time to popularise it. The cadres too were confused and demoralised.
Finally, the voters proved smarter than the dummy candidates and by and large voted for their favoured candidates.
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