By XAVIER SMERDON
WYNDHAM Council candidates have accused their competition of running “dummy” candidates, and now incumbent councillors have joined the debate.
With a record 46 candidates running for a spot on the council, social networking sites facebook and twitter have been riddled with accusations that some people are standing only to direct preferences to other candidates.
On Wyndham Our Community, a facebook page with 284 members, current councillor and candidate Marcel Mahfoud indicated that he thought dummy candidates were being used.
“In 2008 I don’t think there were any dummies in Wyndham. I know (in) Chaffey we had eight candidates that really wanted to be councillors,” Cr Mahfoud said.
In the Chaffey Ward, which has 19 people standing, six candidates all share the same email and three of these candidates have listed fellow running mate Gautam Gupta’s name and mobile number for their contact details.
Each of the members of this block of candidates has also listed Mr Gupta as their number one preference.
Mr Gupta told Star last week he was not using dummy candidates but rather that each person was standing for the same issue – fairer rates.
“We already told people that we are running from the fair rates committee,” Mr Gupta said.
“Each of us comes from different perspectives and backgrounds but what draws us together is the issue of rates. We are all united from a rates point of view.
“We did some research and we found that the best way to get our voices heard was to have the maximum number of people running together.
“I would have liked to have 50 or 100 people running with us.”
Mr Gupta said that every candidate from the fair rates committee would stand for a full term if they were elected.
A spokesperson from the Victorian Electoral Commission said every candidate who nominates signs a declaration that they are eligible for election.
“As the Local Government Act 1989 does not recognise the term ‘dummy candidate’, technically speaking there is no such thing,” the spokesperson said.
