Poor actor Vijaykanth, founder of the fledgling DMDK, is taking on two Dravidian juggernauts who are adept at the art of sabotage. Take for example the fact that in backward Virudhachalam, from where he is contesting, there are three other 'independent' candidates also called Vijaykanth! These candidates have been propped up allegedly by the DMK and PMK. Remember that on an electronic voting machine there are only party symbols not the party names. Vijaykanth (the real one) has only recently received his, which is a drum. But as he goes around Virudhachalam asking people to vote for the drum, three other Vijaykanths will be at work asking people to vote for a 'Banana', 'Ring' and 'Television respectively. Put yourself in the place of an illiterate voter..... all pretty confusing. It might be a muffled drum beat indeed.
Friday, April 28, 2006
WHO IS WHO?
Poor actor Vijaykanth, founder of the fledgling DMDK, is taking on two Dravidian juggernauts who are adept at the art of sabotage. Take for example the fact that in backward Virudhachalam, from where he is contesting, there are three other 'independent' candidates also called Vijaykanth! These candidates have been propped up allegedly by the DMK and PMK. Remember that on an electronic voting machine there are only party symbols not the party names. Vijaykanth (the real one) has only recently received his, which is a drum. But as he goes around Virudhachalam asking people to vote for the drum, three other Vijaykanths will be at work asking people to vote for a 'Banana', 'Ring' and 'Television respectively. Put yourself in the place of an illiterate voter..... all pretty confusing. It might be a muffled drum beat indeed.
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21 comments:
I don't see a problem! An illiterate voter would not be able to read the name, only the symbol... and they can certainly recognise the face of the actor, and when he says drum, voters should not have a problem... unless of course the DMK and PMK have arranged lookalikes and voice artists!!
hey how did the election commission allow this?surely the EC has got better things to do,such as this,than focus on removing an efficient cop like natraj.
how does it really bloomin matter! its not like the banana's, drums, rings, bicycles, pumpkins really give a hoot about the illiterate villager.
now if someone had a rattlesnake as a symbol, he'd have my vote for sheer honesty:O)
Anand - we'll know on May 11th.
Sheks - thats democracy.
PJL - honesty and politics?????
u mean democracy in disguise??
Hello Alaphia,
I think its high time the Election Commision took note of such misleading acts, the primary objective being just to confuse the voter.Yes,surely atleast some votes are bound to get diverted.
bnap
i guess its really tough for the EC to draw a line demarcating whats okay and whats not.. but then thats their job and noone said its easy... as for natrajan being an honest cop.. i have my reservations on that...
On a slightly OT note, there are 7 Lok Paritran candidates standing in the TN assembly elections. I guess their campaigning is quite low-budget and low-key. But there are two reasonsthat I can think of to vote for them,
a) Only if they get a certain percentage of the total votes they will be recognised as a regional or national party - which will allow them to keep their own symbol, etc.
b) We need to show the 'devil' and the 'deep sea', aka politicians, that given a genuine alternative, we will take out the trash!
What do you think about voting for Lok Paritran?
Hello,
Lok Paritran is definitely not a bad idea.But,anyway,I don't think this thread is for that.Alaphia,you could even start one for it.
bnap
this is so funny... Can happen only in India.
@pradeep
Check out Raj TV... its running commercials supporting "Captain"
@alaphia
Guess internet and sms do not come under any restrictions of the EC Moral Code of Conduct.. EC needs to review this.. also there must be something like putting a lid of these electoral special programs on TV... its getting awefully frustrating..
the prog on reservations was nice.. but my 2 cents for people supporting reservations including FM..
i didnt know about a single world class institution thats succeeded from Tamil Nadu thro reservations... beats me why people claim reservations are a big success in tamil nadu.. if u wanna know about the decline of quality due to reservations, how about paying a visit to a local self-financing engg college or even anna university for that matter.. u call this quality when compared to IITs...also if india had such an amazing educational system, i dont know why Mr.FM wants a Harvard degree.. there are plenty of "worldclass" instis in TN..
Ver good point made, anonymous.Just look at engineering colleges in Chennai(including Anna University).The quality of education is apalling.How can one even think of comparing to IITs?And yes, how many politicians would be willing to have 'reserved' people in their medical treatment or security?
'We, the People' on reservation by Barkha Dutt was well anchored and run inspite of the controversial topic.
bnap
Hi Alaphia,
Got the foll as a forward. Do you think there is any truth in this or is it just a prank?
"In a particular constituency, if a voter dislikes all of the candidates competing there, then he can show his dislike to all of them by registering for 49’O. This option is available since 1960.
Steps for doing this:
1. While registering the name at the time of voting, convey to the booth officials that “I want to go for 49’O”.
2. Register your signature in the 49’O form available there.
Now, if the number of 49’O count is larger than that of the winning candidates total vote count, then a re-election is called there."
This sounds similar to the 'None of the Above' option that was being debated over earlier!
Alaphia - Looks like it is true...you can refer the link below. Can we lay emphasis on this through the media?
http://www.liberalsindia.com/localchapter/net-02-02.htm
EC is not strict in whatever it do. it allows television channels to rue electon campaign afet 10 in the night.
it is not fair and people who fight elections as independents are oppressed lot
The motive of the DMK and PMK 'fake candidates' is visibly apparent... Tragic that we have to live in circumstances where it works...
Alaphia,
Funny that such a thing is actually happening... but yes, deep inside I do know there's nothing funny about it at all.
Impersonation (I do not want to use a lighter term though it is just the name they are impersonating, for in this case name will do the trick more than sufficiently) even so explicitly has become such a common phenomena of a largely reeling world! I am tempted to quote Tolstoy's cliche, but I know more than to speak.
well, on the eve of the actual counting, reports say that vijaykanth has about 10 per cent of the votes! how significant will that prove to be? i think it's been a crucial interjection.
someone up there spoke about the devil and the deep blue sea phenomenon - well, i think this proves it!
and plus, how can anyone not vote for... Captain! Captain!
apparently, thats what they call him at home too... so mum goes, 'sadam sapida variya, Captain!'
PS. love yr blog
Hello Alaphia,
A good coverage of elections. I guess you must be exhausted.And I must add the other Vijayakanths did no damage to the 'real' one.He has won with a margin even greater than the DMK Supremo.
bnap
Hey Alaphia,
How u doing. Was a pleasure meetin you at the Lifestyle Night, and have enjoyed readin yr posts.
My latest post is on Caaptain as well, Check it out, when you can.
Cheers
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