Confusion over cauliflower irks BJP in Kurukshetra

CHANDIGARH: The confusion that rained in Kurukshetra over a voting symbol similar to lotus and the name of the candidate contesting the election under it may have left BJP sulking but it brought showers of relief for the two-time Congress MP Naveen Jindal.

A cauliflower and one Raj Kumar Saini have lent a hand to Jindal, who is dreaming of making a hat-trick this time despite the anti-incumbency factor.

This is how. With a striking resemblance to lotus, BJP’s voting symbol, cauliflower was the voting symbol of an independent candidate. Adding to the confusion for voters was the identical name of the candidates contesting under the two symbols: Raj Kumar Saini.

And it rained confusion at the polling booths over the two flowers, with BJP supporters struggling to differentiate between the similar looking lotus and cauliflower. The struggle continued the entire day in Kurukshetra with BJP supporters dubbing it Jindal’s way of cocking a snook at BJP’s “flower power”.

“It was very confusing to identify Mr Saini of BJP. I hoped to distinguish with the party’s symbol. Much to my chagrin, the similar looking symbol (cauliflower) made it more difficult. It appears that this is a ploy of the Congress to confuse the voters as Mr Saini is very popular among the dominant Saini voters here,” said a BJP supporter.

Claiming that he has performed in the past 10 years for the welfare and development of the people of Kurukshetra, Congress MP Naveen Jindal said that he was “confident” to make a hattrick this year. Grappling with the taint of coal block allocation scam and anti-incumbency, Jindal has a challenge from INLD candidate Balbir Saini.

On the other hand, BJP candidate Raj Kumar Saini asserted that the Modi wave will help him sail through and root out Congress.

Interestingly, little is known about Raj Kumar Saini, who contested as an independent.

With a decent turnout at polling booths, the constituency has a total of nine independent candidates including Raj Kumar Saini.

In Punjab, Congress candidate from Bathinda, Manpreet Singh Badal, is facing a similar situation.

Among those in fray against him is his namesake, Manpreet Singh Badal, an independent candidate. The former Punjab finance minister has accused Shiromani Akali Dal of fielding his namesake to create confusion in the minds of voters.