AAP’s Gurmeet Khuddian namesake in the fray from Bathinda

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Bathinda, May 15

Call it a coincidence or a well-thought out strategy, a namesake is contesting against Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Khuddian, AAP candidate from Bathinda.

Gurmeet Singh (49) of Gulab Khuddian village, who is a labourer, has filed his nomination papers from the Lok Sabha seat as an Independent.

Tactic to divide votes

A political expert says that namesakes are used by opponents as a tactic to divide the votes, especially when there is a tough contest

Similarly, Amritpal Singh’s namesake is also contesting as Independent from Khadoor Sahib where Waris Punjab De chief is contesting the poll.

The namesakes are not new on the Bathinda seat as in 2014 when Manpreet Badal was contesting on the Congress ticket from here, a namesake Manpreet Singh from Badal village filed his papers and contested the poll on ‘kite’ symbol and had polled 4,618 votes.

Similarly, in the 2017 Assembly poll, three candidates Gurpreet Singh contested the poll as namesake against Congress candidate Gurpreet Singh Kangar from the Rampura Phul segment in Bathinda. It causes confusion among voters, unable to distinguish between namesakes and end up casting their vote in the favour of the other.

A political expert also says that namesakes are used by opponents as a tactic to divide the votes, especially when there is a tough contest.