Namesake candidates give sleepless nights to BRS candidates in 15 seats

It appears the rivals have devised an ingenious plan to corner the ruling BRS candidates in several assembly constituencies. The rivals have made persons with the same name as that of the BRS candidate stand in the elections. This could leave the voters confused and often the candidates intending to vote for the BRS might inadvertently vote for the namesake independent, who is essentially a vote splitter.

For instance, in LB Nagar constituency, the BRS candidate is Devireddy Sudheer Reddy, who is a sitting MLA. But, there are two more Sudheer Reddys, both independents, in the fray. One of them is one Devireddy Sudheer Reddy. In this case, even the surname is matching with the BRS candidate. In Ibrahimpatnam and Uppal, Association for Democratic Reforms has put up candidates with the same name.

While the BRS candidate in Uppal is Bandari Lakshma Reddy, the ADR candidate is M LakshmaReddy, in Ibrahimpatnam, the BRS candidate is Manchireddy Kishan Reddy, but the ADR candidate is K Kishan Reddy. There is every possibility that votes meant for M Kishan Reddy might land in K Kishan Reddy’s kitty.

In Kodangal, Maheshwaram, Narayanpet, Mahabubnagar, Devarakadra , kollapur, Huzurnagar, Miryalguda, Munugode and Khammam too, there are namesakes in the fray. In Maheshwaram, both the BRS and the Congress candidates have namesakes. For minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy, there is M Sabitha, who is contesting as an independent. The Congress candidate is K Lakshma Reddy. But, there is another candidate with the same name, who is contesting on Jana Sankharavam party.