E-Paper
The curious case of extra letters in DUSU candidates’ names
Hoardings and posters of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) election candidates have taken over the streets of the city, as the nomination process for the elections have started. Interestingly, many posters have an extra letter in the names of the DUSU aspirants. Strangely, the post hopefuls themselves aren’t aware of the reason behind it.
It is that time of the year again. The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) election process has begun and the billboards, streets and walls are, once again, festooned (or littered) with hoardings and posters of various candidates. While there is nothing new about this, one cannot help but notice that a few letters are repeated in their names. Why, you ask? Well, we’re wondering the same! Is it numerology? Candidates won’t tell. In the quest to solve the mystery of extra letters, HT City spoke to some of the contestants, here’s what they say.
Upon asking Priyaanka Chhawri, an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leaders who is filing her nomination, says the extra ‘a’ in her name after ‘y’ has always been there. Although her Facebook profile says it otherwise. She says, “That is how I have always spelt my name.” However, on her Facebook profile, her name is Priyanka Chhawri. When asked if it were upon a numerologist’s suggestion that she added it, she says, “No, I haven’t consulted anyone.”
Vishal Yadav, another ABVP candidate whose name is spelt as ‘Vishaal’ in the posters, says he has no idea about the extra ‘a’ that has been added to his name. In fact, he says that he doesn’t even know where the posters have come up from. “Mujhe pata nahi ki kisne ye posters aur hoardings lagaye hain. Main apne naam mein bas ek ‘a’ lagata hu, do nahi,” he says. It should be noted that according to Lyngdoh committee’s guidelines, no candidate is allowed to spend more than Rs 5,000 on campaigning. As a result, several candidates say that their supporters have come up with the posters, without their knowledge, lest they should face the consequence.
Rohit Chahal, a student leader, who has contested in DUSU elections twice in the past, says, “Everyone who files a nomination wants to win the election. So, I won’t be surprised if students have consulted numerologists. Consulting astrologers isn’t unheard of.” However, he points out that it could be to avoid confusion with another DUSU hopeful with the similar name. “In the past, contestants would earlier prefix an ‘a’ or ‘aa’ before their names so that their names would be on top of the ballot paper which has names in alphabetical order. That practice has stopped but candidates seem to be repeating some letters in their names probably to attract attention or to stand out. It could also be because some times similar names appear in the ballot paper, so supposed their are two Rohit’s one could spell his name as Roohit to stand out.”
Read: DU campus littered with posters as student union elections near
