Independents fizzle out, poll few votes
May 18, 2009: The Times of India
NEW DELHI: While many of them said this was the beginning of a ¶serious” career in politics, the election results were anything but heartening for those who contested as independents or without backing of any major political party. All 146 forfeited their deposits after failing to garner the required one-sixth of votes cast.
The largest number of independents or candidates from lesser known parties contested from Chandni Chowk and New Delhi 39 and 38 respectively. While none got more than 3,000-4,000 votes, many couldn’t even reach the four figure mark. An independent from Chandni Chowk polled a meagre 194, the lowest in Delhi.
Considering the funds constraints and a little publicity, many candidates were happy with the results. ¶I got 1,468 votes and I’m very happy. At least I know there are that many people in the city who are not moved by money or false promises. Entering active politics is necessary. I plan to contest the next election too,” said Sunita Choudhary, Delhi’s only female autorickshaw driver who contested from New Delhi.
Major Sangeeta Tomar, who contested on the Youth For Equality platform in New Delhi, was disappointed. ¶Why did the Election Commission put the symbols of Congress and BJP first on the EVMs? For smaller parties like mine, it is quite a task to get recognition. We got our symbol about 10 days before the election and didn’t have the means to create awareness. It is unfair,” she said.
Another contestant from Chandni Chowk blamed his poor show on the ¶West¶. Dr Sita Ram Sharma, a writer who contested on a ticket from Rashtrawadi Sena, said: ¶Other parties bribed voters. I suspect America also had a role to play in this.” He managed only 609 votes.
Ashish Saxena, a political science student from DU, was more than confident about polling more votes than BJP’s Vijender Gupta when counting started. He finally managed 393 votes. ¶I plan to do my Phd in politics and the best way to understand the dynamics of the system is to be in the system,” he said.
East Delhi proved to be harsh for independents. None of the eight independent candidates managed to garner more than a few thousand votes. While Kusum Bahl, a school teacher, got a meagre 371 votes, Dr Prem Singh, a DU professor who had also thrown his hat in the ring, fared better with 1,138 votes. Rajpal Singh, a laundryman who contested as an independent, got 2,059 votes. ¶I expected about 5,000 but people got confused between our symbol a batsman and that of a bat,” he said.
