These candidates make no bones about the defeat and, in fact, some of them even happily flaunt the ‘loser’ tag and strive to maintain it.
Tamil Nadu’s ‘Election King’
K Padmarajan, proudly calls himself the ‘election king’. Hailing from Tamil Nadu, Padmarajan is, perhaps, the only candidate in poll fray in Lok Sabha Elections 2024 , who has been urging people to not choose him. Why? Because, he wants to retain his tag of being the “most unsuccessful candidate”, a feat also registered in the Limca Book of Records.
The 65-year-old tyre repair shop owner’s name features in the Guinness Book of World Records for candidate with most contested elections. He says he has lost ₹80 lakh so far in security deposits which gets forfeited every time he loses an election besides expenses for filing nomination amid fanfare.
Also Read: Meet ‘Election king’ and India’s most unsuccessful candidate; filed nomination for 227th time
Padmarajan has filed his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections from Thrissur in Kerala and Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu. This will be his 239th attempt at the losing streak
“I began fighting elections in 1988 from my home town of Mettur, located in Tamil Nadu. I have contested 238 elections so far including against former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee, PV Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. This will be my 239th attempt. I pick a unique battle every time,” Padmarajan told news agency PTI.
“I ask people to not vote for me, I don’t want the votes but I want to continue to hold the tag of most unsuccessful candidate. I don’t campaign but when I go for filing nomination, I do that in a grand way.”
Padmarajan has stood against political stalwarts in the past. This includes former chief ministers like J Jayalalitha, M Karunanidhi, YSR Reddy and AK Antony, film stars Hema Malini and Vijayakanth, among others.
Chasing his father’s dreams
Another such candidate is Parmanand Tolani from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, who has made 18 successful attempts. Tolani says he wants to take forward his father’s legacy who fought elections as independent candidate for three decades.
Also Read: Manmohan Singh retires from Rajya Sabha: A look at ex-PM’s 33-year-long journey in 5 statements
“My father passed away in 1988 and I am taking forward his legacy. I have contested 18 elections so far including eight Lok Sabha and eight Assembly elections I will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls too,” 65-year-old Tolani told PTI.
Tolani has chasing his father’s dreams. “My father’s wish was that we do not have to stop the trend till someone from the family gets elected. If I am not able to do it in my lifetime, my two daughters will carry forward the baton,” said Tolani, who is a property broker.
“Main bhi Pradhanmantri’
Vijay Prakash Kodekar from Pune, a retired staffer from state electricity board, has a different in contesting elections as independent candidate – advocating zero budget poll campaigns.
Kodekar is often seen pushing a steel cart on wheels on the streets of Latur, where he is planning to contest the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. “Main bhi Pradhanmantri,” reads a flex board on the cart.
“Why cannot any poor individual be the Prime Minister of the country. Why this exorbitant expenditure by parties on election campaigns? Polls can be fought on zero budget and the money can be utilised for public welfare,” 78-year-old Kodekar told PTI.
Kodekar, who has contested 24 elections so far, uses a different name for different elections. “Some elections I have contested using the name Vijay, some with ‘Rashtrapati’ and some with the name ‘Znyosho’ –as I am a disciple of Osho. I complete the name change formalities and then I contest the polls using the new name,” he said.
Lie Detecter Test
Hyderabad-based techie Ravinder Uppula, uses different campaign strategies for each Lok Sabha election he contests. If it was an anti-corruption march in 2014 and it was a liquid only fast in 2019 general elections.
Also Read: Lok Sabha elections 2024: Pre-poll survey predicts ‘abki baar NOT 400 paar’ for PM Modi’s NDA
“I promise during my campaign that if I get elected, I will get a lie detector test done every 100 days so public who votes for me doesn’t feel cheated. That is how our politicians should do as well to weed out corruption,” he said.
Uppula, however, is disappointed with the poll campaign expenses.
“It should not be an expensive deal to canvass in this country, an agenda and the right promise should be enough rather than the poll fray leaving the voters with no choice except voting for a smaller thief or a bigger thief,” he added.
The seven phase Lok Sabha Elections 2024 begin on April 19. The results will be declared on June 4.
(With PTI Inputs)
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Published: 05 Apr 2024, 06:37 AM IST