Election ‘King’ Ready to Lose for 200th Time

Padmarajan from Tamil Nadu says his aim in life is to spread the message that anyone can contest elections in a democracy

Salem: K. Padmarajan from Salem district in Tamil Nadu is known as the Election King, for he has unsuccessfully contested more than 170 elections. 

Padmarajan whose name figures in the Limca Book of World Records as the most unsuccessful candidate has submitted his nomination papers for the Dharmapuri constituency and according to him it would be his 200th election. 

In 1988, when he first contested the elections from Mettur Assembly seat, Padmarajan says he only had one intention: to prove that a common man can fight an election.

Since then, he has participated in every election–from local panchayat elections to the presidential elections.

He has famously fought against Atal Bihari Vajpayee, J Jayalalithaa, M Karunanidhi, AK Antony, PV Narasimha Rao, KR Narayanan, SM Krishna, former prime minister Manmohan Singh (in Rajya Sabha polls) and former president Pranab Mukherjee, MK Stalin, Vijayakanth and the list goes on.

He has contested in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and even in Delhi.
Padmarajan, talking about his defeats said, “If I win, I will get a heart attack.”

He also added that he will continue to contest elections and he has just one aim – to create records.

Padmarajan is a homeopathy doctor. And now his wife and son, who is an engineer in a private firm, have also yielded to his passion.

This time, Padmarajan is contesting from Dharmapuri where the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Anbumani Ramadoss is contesting.

Padmarajan also plans to contest from Wayanad in Kerala if Rahul Gandhi is contesting from there.

“My defeat number is going to be 200 soon and I am really happy about it,” Padmarajan said.