K.K. Shailaja is one of the 10 candidates contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the Vadakara seat. No, her symbol is not sickle, hammer, and star of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), but a country boat and boatman.
This homemaker, who has no apparent connection with any political party but comes from a family of Congress supporters, is among the many Independent candidates with identical names, who may pose a challenge to the official ones put up by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF). This is especially significant in constituencies which are witnessing tight contests.
In recent times, the presence of such ‘namesake’ candidates has led to the defeat of ‘original’ ones at least four times in the Lok Sabha elections. In the 2004 polls, incumbent MP and senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran of the UDF lost to K.S. Manoj of the LDF by a margin of 1,009 votes in the Alappuzha seat. V.S. Sudheeran, a ‘namesake’ candidate managed to get over 8,282 votes. In the 2009 polls, current Minister for Public Works P.A. Mohamed Riyas of the LDF tasted defeat at the hands of the UDF’s M.K. Raghavan by a margin of 838 votes. Candidates with the name ‘Riyas’ bagging over 4,000 votes contributed to this. In the same year, Satheesan Pacheni of the UDF lost to M.B. Rajesh of the LDF by a margin of 1,820 votes. Independent candidate Satheesan E.V. had garnered 5,478 votes. In the 2014 elections, A.N. Shamseer of the LDF lost to Mullappally Ramachandran of the UDF by a margin of 3,306 votes. A.P. Shamseer, an Independent, got 3,485 votes.
List of namesakes
In Vadakara, there are four candidates with the name Shailaja. One is K.K. Shailaja of the LDF and the others are P. Shailaja, Shailaja, and the Shailaja mentioned earlier, all Independents. There are three Shafis too contesting. Shafi Parambil, the UDF candidate, and Independents Shafi and T.P. Shafi. Kannur has Jayaraj E.P. and Jayarajan M.V., son of Velayudhan, apart from the LDF’s M.V. Jayarajan. It also has K. Sudhakaran, son of Krishnan, and K. Sudhakaran, son of P. Gopalan, other than K. Sudhakaran of the UDF.
Kozhikode has three Abdul Kareems and N. Raghavan, Raghavan, and T. Raghavan, along with the LDF’s Elamaram Kareem and the UDF’s M.K. Raghavan. There are similar ‘namesake’ candidates in Kasaragod, Malappuram, Ponnani, Thrissur, Mavelikara, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Attingal, and Thiruvananthapuram as well.
