HYDERABAD: Independent candidates who were handed out similar-looking election symbols were a worried lot on Monday. They feel that several voters might have confused them with other candidates.
As many as 540 Independent candidates contested out of 1,310 total candidates for 150 wards in the GHMC elections held on Monday.
D Mohan, an Independent candidate from Gunfoundry ward said that the Election Commission (EC) allotted him a Ship symbol. A number of his followers, especially older voters confused it with a Radio symbol which looked similar on the EVM.
Again, some Independent candidates in the Old City were allotted candle, cricket bat and torchlight symbols. Voters got confused by these and the candidates fear this might cost them precious votes. “My 75- year-old mother cast her vote in favour of another Independent candidate because the candle and cricket bat symbols printed on EVMs looked the same,” said N Ravindra, an Independent candidate from Shah Ali Banda in the Old City.
Meanwhile, in Moosarambagh, several slum-dwellers said their names had been deleted from voters’ lists. Police officials installed video cameras and shot footage of people casting their votes at sensitive stations in the Old City.
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