TRICHY: In a likely mistaken identity over similar poll symbols, a 34-year-old employee of a private finance firm secured 14,796 votes as an independent candidate in Trichy Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu even without campaigning.
“After filing nomination papers, I informed only my relatives and friends in the constituency. I expected to secure just a few thousand votes as I made no efforts to campaign,” S Selvaraj told TOI.
While he refrained from attributing the sizable number of votes to any reason, MDMK cadres said that Selvaraj was allocated “biscuit” as a poll symbol which closely resembled the “matchbox” symbol of MDMK’s Durai Vaiko, the winning candidate.
“A section of voters must have got confused with the symbols,” an MDMK agent said, raising concern that in a close fight, such mistakes would prove costly to a favourable candidate. Selvaraj secured fifth place among the 35 candidates.
“After filing nomination papers, I informed only my relatives and friends in the constituency. I expected to secure just a few thousand votes as I made no efforts to campaign,” S Selvaraj told TOI.
While he refrained from attributing the sizable number of votes to any reason, MDMK cadres said that Selvaraj was allocated “biscuit” as a poll symbol which closely resembled the “matchbox” symbol of MDMK’s Durai Vaiko, the winning candidate.
“A section of voters must have got confused with the symbols,” an MDMK agent said, raising concern that in a close fight, such mistakes would prove costly to a favourable candidate. Selvaraj secured fifth place among the 35 candidates.
