The Election Commission of India has released the list of contesting candidates for the Parliamentary Constituencies scheduled for poll in the first phase for the General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha. A total of 1625 candidates are in the fray for the 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states, of which only 134 are women. These PCs, including Nagaland, will be voting in the first phase on 19th April 2024.
As expected, this election too, there are several political parties and Independent candidates have been granted bizarre and sometimes funny symbols, Apple, Air Conditioner, Almirah, Battery Torch, Computer, Autorickshaw, Gas Cylinder, Laptop being the most common ones.
The symbol for political party Rashtriya Jansambhavna Party is ‘Cauliflower’, Bahujan Awan Party’s is ‘Tooth Brush’, Akhil Hind Forward Bloc (Krantikari) is ‘Air Conditioner’, Hamar Raj Party has chosen ‘Bucket’ while for Peoples Party of India (Democratic), it is ‘Bench’ while ‘TV Remote’ has been taken by Republican Party of India (Sivaraj).
Independent candidate Yusuf Ali Khan for Churu PC in Rajasthan has picked ‘Baby Walker’ and one of his opponents who is also a candidate named Niranjan Singh Rathore has chosen ‘Belt’. Tridiv Jyoti Bhuyan for 10-Kaziranga PC’s election symbol is ‘Grapes’ while it’s is ‘Television’ for one of 11 contestants for the same seat, IND candidate Binod Gogoi. Kahanvi Bohra for Jaipur Rural PC has selected ‘Shoe’ as her symbol.
Another strange one is ‘Mixee’ for P. Marimuthu, a candidate for Chennai North PC which has 35 contestants fighting for the seat. IND candidate V Sivakumar for Chennai South where there are 41 candidates, has chosen ‘Dumbbells’. The election symbol for Sigamani. A from 14-Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu is ‘Door Handle’ while Karthi S who is running for 16- Namakka PC, also in Tamil Nadu, has chosen ‘Door Bell’.
Sikkim PC candidate Rudra Mani Pradhan has opted for ‘Water Tank’ while one of his 14 opponents, Shyamal Pal’s symbol for the Lok Sabha polls 2024 is ‘Football Player’, which is also the symbol of Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi. The candidates of Tiruvallur (SC) Parliamentary Constituency, Tamil Nadu have interesting symbols such as ‘Watermelon’, ‘Jackfruit’, ‘Grapes’ and ‘Ginger’.
