Jarnail Singh, 41, came in the spotlight after he hurled a shoe at former Union Minister P Chidambaram on the issue of anti-Sikh riots. He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from West Delhi constituency on Aam Aadmi Party ticket.
But lost to BJP’s Parvesh Verma, son of late Sahib Singh Verma – a former Delhi chief minister.
The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Jarnail Singh from Rajouri Garden constituency in these Assembly elections.
Jarnail Singh tells Avinash Singh Sudan that the BJP has fielded dummy candidates with same name as his. Excerpts
Who is behind these candidates?
It is a Bharatiya Janata Party’s tactics. Last time also it did it. When you call up an independent candidate named Jarnail Singh, someone picks up the phone and says he is gone to Dubai.
These dummy candidates with same name have neither conducted any rally nor had any interaction with the electorate in the area.
Have you complained to anybody about such candidates?
It’s the job of the Election Commission to ensure free and fair election. But even after our complaints nothing has changed.
So what’s the way out?
We have requested the Election Commission to put a photo against the name of the candidate on the electronic voting machine. It will be helpful for the larger section of society especially the elderly who cannot differentiate between lookalike symbols due to poor light in the voting room.
Did the Election Commission agree to it?
The Election Commission said such a move is a part of the electoral reforms and it will take time.
You think dummy candidates will have an adverse effect on the election results?
Last elections one person had a torch as an election symbol that looked like AAP’s election symbol jhadu. This time the Election Commission has modified the symbol and the beams of the torch have been taken off.
You think you will you lose votes these elections as well?
There is awareness among people this time. So it will be tough to cheat people these polls. We are confident that people won’t vote for these dummy candidates.
How are you going about the issue?
We are distributing pamphlets and holding meetings to spread awareness among the masses.
Will Modi wave have an impact these polls?
There is no Modi wave in the capital so the BJP has brought Kiran Bedi as chief ministerial candidate. Modi wave will have no impact in our area.
