MANDYA: Mandya constituency has garnered the attention of young and old alike, with actor-turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh taking on Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil. The political battlefield just became more interesting, with three more candidates sharing Sumalatha’s name, filing their nominations as independent candidates. The ‘Sumalatha trioka’,who walked in separately, handed over their papers at the deputy commissioner’s office here on Tuesday.
Sumalatha Ambareesh is contesting as an independent candidate, while Nikhil, who filed his nomination on Monday, is the consensus candidate of JD(S) and Congress combine.
According to the information available with The New Indian Express, the nominations were filed by Sumalatha P from Kanakapura, Sumalatha from KR Pet and Sumalatha M from Srirangapatna, with each submitting one set of the papers. While Kanakapura comes under Bengaluru Rural district,KR Pet and Srirangapatna are in Mandya district. Moreover, what has caught the attention of rival camp, especially Sumalatha’s, is the day chosen to file the nominations - the last day - without giving a chance for a counter move.
On the other hand, three more nominations were filed in the name of Sumalatha Ambareesh, with three prominent supporters of the former handing over the nominations on her behalf at the deputy commissioner’s office.
Ambareesh Fans Association President Belur Somashekar, Sumalatha’s relative Madan and another supporter Shashikumar fulfilled the formalities in the absence of their leader, who was busy campaigning at Srirangapatna taluk.
Earlier, Sumalatha had filed her nomination in only one set.Going by the history of elections from local bodies to zilla panchayat, assembly to parliament, this is not for the first time. Such developments, involving similar names of the prominent candidates have come to notice. It is the game played during every elections, especially when there is a keen contest, only to spoil the chances of rivals. Here too, similar tactics is deployed only to create confusion among the voters, with the actor riding high on the sympathy wave, that became evident further with the supporters trooping in large numbers when she filed her nominations recently.