He contests elections only to lose’

Having lost 89 elections on a trot so far, a private medical practitioner has entered the electoral fray from Shikaripura assembly constituency in Karnataka’s Shimoga district only to lose and improve his rather unenviable record of the “most unsuccessful candidate in the elections”.

A native of Salem district in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, K Padmarajan has already been adjudged as the “most unsuccessful candidate in elections” by the Limca Book of Records. Now, he wants to improve his tally of electoral defeats and make it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Padmarajan may not find it difficult to lose the ensuing polls. For, he is pitted against two former Chief Ministers – BJP’s B S Yeddyurappa and Samajwadi Party’s S Bangarappa , both of whom enjoy a large following in the constituency.

Padmarajan also has the distinction of contesting against several former Prime Ministers including late P V Narasimha Rao for Nandyal Lok Sabha seat in Andhra Pradesh during 1991 and Atal Behari Vajpayee for Lucknow Parliamentary seat during the 2004 polls.

He has also taken on former Chief Minister J Jayalalitha and M Karunanidhi during the Assembly elections held in Tamil Nadu.

A homeopath, who offers free medicines to the poor, Padmarajan carefully chooses his opponent in the elections so that his string of “losses” is not interrupted.

When Shikaripura assembly elections emerged as a battle ground for two political titans – Yeddyurappa and Bangarappa – Padmarajan lost to no time to file his nomination papers. Incidentally, he was the first candidate to file his nomination papers from Shikaripura assembly constituency.