What's in a name: Namesakes of the famous Gandhis make UP's voters' list interesting

LUCKNOW: Sonia Gandhi certainly has no qualms in serving dinner to Sanjay Gandhi with a smile, while Rajiv Gandhi patiently waits for his turn. The three routinely sit together and assess election coverage on new channels to make up their mind for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. This is not the typical scene, which would take one's imagination to the late 1980s and to the Gandhi household in Delhi, which was the epicentre of India's power and politics, but a scene in a household in Lucknow.

The best part of this Gandhi family is that both Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi are sons of Santosh Gandhi, and Sonia is married to Sanjay Gandhi. However, this Gandhi family wants a change and thinks that the anti-incumbency factor may hit the Congress in this election.

"We want to see a change of guard at the Centre," Sanjay Gandhi says. His wife Sonia feels that the current UPA government has miserably failed in curbing price rise, and they may have to pay price for it. In addition to this, Lucknow also has two Rahul Gandhis, and both of them are in their early 30s.

The clout of the Gandhi family clearly extends beyond the geographical boundaries of Amethi and Rae Bareli. And, if the voters' list of Uttar Pradesh is any indication, then there are 165 voters in the state who are named after members of Gandhi family.

Leading the list is late firebrand leader Sanjay Gandhi who seems to be most popular, followed party's current vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Interestingly, there is only one Sonia Gandhi throughout Uttar Pradesh, while there is no Maneka Gandhi.

As per data available with TOI, there are 54 voters whose names are Sanjay Gandhi, followed by 48 Rahul Gandhis and 36 Rajiv Gandhis. Varun Gandhi's special relationship with his grandmother Indira Gandhi is also reflected here, as there are 10 voters each with bearing names Varun Gandhi and Indira Gandhi. District-wise, the highest concentration of Gandhi namesakes have been detected in Aligarh, Budaun and Ghaziabad with 10 such voters, followed by Lucknow and Meerut with 8 voters sharing their names with members of Gandhi family.

In Meerut, Rahul Gandhi and Varun Gandhi are sons of Baldev Gandhi. Both Rahul and Varun are aged 24 years. Jhansi too throws an interesting tale with Priyanka Gandhi (27) being married to Rajiv Gandhi (29). According to the voters' list, in Moradabad, there are two Rahul Gandhis, whose fathers' name is also coincidentally GK Gandhi. However, one Rahul can be distinguished from the other, as one is 31-year-old, while the other is 27-year-old.

The Gandhi bastion of Amethi interestingly has not named anyone after members of Gandhi family, while in Rae Bareli; there is one Indira Gandhi, 39-year-old, wife of Chhabu. Another out of the ordinary fact, which emerges is that people have named their children on members of Gandhi family purely for publicity purpose, while retaining their religious identities. This includes Sanjay Gandhi Pandey of Pratapgarh, Rajiv Gandhi Yadav of Jaunpur and Sanjay Gandhi Shukla of Barabanki.

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