Failed Strategy of Name Similarity

The results are out for 17th Lok Sabha election and many political equations got changed. Different political parties and leaders implement different election strategies for expected results. People might have heard about the strategy of offering candidates with the same name as that of prominent and possible winner candidate in the constituency. In Raigad Lok Sabha constituency, this strategy was used in 2014 and 2019 elections for Honourable Member of Parliament Mr. Sunil Tatkare. Due to this strategy, he lost the elections in 2014, but in the 2019 election, the same strategy got failed.

In 2014, the situation was that two other candidates with the same name Sunil Tatkare were there in the candidate list. When the election results were out, they both secured 7000 votes and Honourable Mr. Sunil Tatkare lost the elections with only 2000 vote difference. It does mean that similar name strategy helped the winner Mr. Anant Geete by reducing the vote count of Honourable Mr. Sunil Tatkare.

For 2019 elections also the same strategy was used. Out of a total of 16 candidates, three were Sunil Tatkare in the candidate’s list. Remaining two Sunil Tatkare got 4126 and 9752 votes. In this way, they shared the contribution of 13878 votes. Most surprising is that both of them also got 6 postal votes and they got a good vote count at Dapoli, Guhagar, Pen, Alibaug, and Shrivardhan. Despite this political strategy of opposite parties, Honourable Mr. Sunil Tatkare won the election with 31000 words and this is a grand victory for him and NCP.

On the other hand, the application of the candidate having name similarity with Shiv Sena candidate’s Anant Geete’s name was canceled in the initial scrutiny round itself. If this candidate would have appeared in the list, Honourable Mr. Sunil Tatkare would have got more votes lead than the present situation.

One thing is clear from this situation that people are getting more cautious and they cannot be the victims of such political strategies. In 2014, Honourable Mr. Sunil Tatkare had to face accidental and unfortunate failure due to this strategy, but in the 2019 election, he proved his effective leadership, social commitments, and hard work for the betterment of the society. No political games and strategies could defeat him in the election. Member of Parliament is an excellent platform to represent the constituency at the national level. Also, it is expected that it will help to resolve the major issues of the area and to present the innovative ideas for the betterment of the constituency. People trust Honourable Mr. Sunil Tatkare and they think that their district is in safe hands now. He is a leader with the development vision, and he will prove this again in the role of Member of Parliament.