Delhi elections: Rajouri Garden - jarnail singh vs jarnail singh vs jarnail singh

Namesakes may queer pitch for many candidates
Jarnail vs Jarnail vs Jarnail

In Rajouri Garden, besides AAP's Jarnail Singh, two other Independent candidates Jarnail Singhs are in the fray
Two women candidates from Rajouri Garden, Livis Chandela and Suman Chandela, sahre the same last name as that of Congress candidate Meenakshi Chandel
In Tilak Nagar, BJP candidate Rajiv Babbar is up against another Rajiv Babbar, and Duli Chand of the Congress is faced with a 60-year-old mason called Duli Chand

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31
It is Jarnail singh vs Jarnail Singh vs Jarnail Singh in the Rajouri Garden Assembly seat from where Akali candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa is seeking a re-election on the SAD symbol and entire Akali leadership from Punjab is campaigning for him.
The real Jarnail Singh, also known as Jarnail Singh Patarkar, who threw a shoe on ex- Home Minister P Chidambram, to project injustice to anti-sikh riots victims, already has a bad taste in his mouth over the similar ploy against him in the parliamentary elections. He had polled 3.82 lakhs votes. But another Jarnail Singh got about 85,000 votes and the third got about 6,000. Though BJP candidate Parvesh Sharma won by over 2.50 lakh votes, Jarnail Singh feels the confusion caused by the namesake candidates cost him and the party.
This Assembly elections, there are again two other Jarnail Singhs in the fray. Both are Indepdnent candidates. “We are specially educating voters to look for the symbol ‘broom’ of our party than the name. Also, earlier, all Jarnail Singhs were listed together but this time there would be other names in between.
Not just him, over 20 candidates in the current elections are facing challenge from their own name. Congress candidate Meenakshi Chandela also from Rajouri Garden, whose family name Chandela holds some command as her father Dayanand Chandela had won the seat earlier. There are two other women candidates with the same last name – Chandela. They are Livis Chandela and Suman Chandela.
Shazia Ilmi, who has left AAP had also the same problem. She lost the RK Puram Assembly seat by only 326 votes in 2013. In Tilak Nagar all the BJP, Congress and the AAP candidates are facing the same problem. BJP candidate Rajiv Babbar is up against another Rajiv Babbar, and Duli Chand of the Congress is faced with a 60-year-old mason called Duli Chand.

kiran vs kejri - who should delhi vote for?

Kejri vs Bedi: Delhiites weigh all options for top job

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 2

While Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi are busy campaigning for the Delhi Assembly elections, voters are weighing all options to elect the best suitable candidate for the top job.

In a bid to understand the challenges a CM faces, Delhiites reason, correctly, whether to give Kejriwal a second chance or let a former cop rule the Capital. Sandeep Singh, an autorickshaw driver, will vote for Kejriwal. “Other leaders and parties are seasoned drivers. Arvind is like a first-time driver of an autorickshaw. It was natural to lose balance. He deserves a second chance,” he says.

However, Raghu Yadav, a taxi driver, says: “We gave him the wheels of our car. He banged it straight into a pole. How can you give command to the driver again and put lives of others in danger?”

Subash Sharma, a shopkeeper in Shahdra, says: “Bedi has changed too many parties. I can’t understand her vision and viewpoint from the interviews I have watched so far. She seems confused herself. How will she govern us?”

But Shruti, an assistant manager at a local hotel, thinks Bedi should be the first choice for women. “She took on politicians when she was the Delhi IG. She won’t succumb to pressure and will give importance to women security,” she says.

The conflict on whether the choice should be made on local or national issues is also noted. Rakhi, who is also working at a local hotel, says she wants same party to govern the country and the Capital. “I think we should have one party in power at both places. Otherwise, there would be conflict. I voted for Kejriwal last time but his government had lot of conflicts with the Centre,” she says.

But for Charanpreet Singh of Rajouri Garden, adequate parking facility in his area is the main issue. “I don’t know about issues of drugs and governance. Inadequate parking space is a daily trouble for me. My business suffers due to traffic jams. I will vote for the one who sets a deadline for the completion of multi-level parking facilityhere,” he says.