The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : A record for a unique feat

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

A record for a unique feat

S. Harpal Singh

K. Padmarajan is a Limca Record holder for being the most unsuccessful candidate

K. Padmarajan

ADILABAD: Even though he sports a scary moustache in the Veerappan fashion, this habitual election contestant from Tamil Nadu does not intend to infuse any scare among candidates for Adilabad Lok Sabha seat when he files his nomination here on Monday.

K. Padmarajan of Mettur Dam in Salem district, a Limca Record holder for being the most unsuccessful candidate just wants to file the nomination for record’s sake.

The genial homeo physician has 90 nominations as an independent to his ‘credit’ before he ventured towards Adilabad. “I came to know of the by elections through The Hindu. On reading the name of Adilabad as one of the constituencies going to polls I contacted my friend Anil Deshpande, and here I am,” explained Padmarajan.

He has filed six times the nomination for the exalted post of president, 18 times for membership of Rajya sabha.

All these were rejected for the obvious reason of not finding enough number of proposers. However, his nomination for Lok Sabha was valid on 18 times and 28 times for different Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu.

“In 1988 I first filed the papers for Mettur Dam constituency wanting to show that contesting elections is not the monopoly of politicians. Subsequently I kept filing nominations for many elections just for record’s sake,” revealed Padmarajan.

Money spent

Asked about the quantum of money he must have lost as deposits by quitting after filing nominations, Padmarajan smiled and disclosed the figure being above Rs. 6 lakh. “I have spent the money from my humble earnings from my tyre re-treading business,” he said.

Padmarajan who has an MA to his credit had also made his three and half year year old son file a nomination from Perundurai in 1994. “Although it was rejected it created a record of sorts,” he pointed out.

By sheer coincidence, Veerappan’s widow Muthu Lakshmi is the neighbour of Padmarajan in Mettur Dam.

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