Kannur: India’s ‘election king’ is to contest from Dharmadam constituency in Kerala where the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has fielded Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the upcoming election.
Padmarajan, a tyre seller in Salem in Tamil Nadu entered the Limca Book of World Records for losing every election he has contested. He has been defeated in the polls more than 200 times.
He is a Tamil but speaks Malayalam fluently.
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With Padmarajan deciding that his 217th election would be in Dharmadam, he has already filed his nomination for the upcoming elections.
In 2014 he grabbed international attention when he filed his papers in Vadodara Constituency against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has also lost a contest against Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi in Kerala.
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Padmarajan started off by filing a nomination at Salem Mettur Assembly Seat in 1988. His only intention was to highlight that a common man can also contest in Indian elections.
Every time he was defeated, Padmarajan was enthusiastic to file a nomination in the next election. He entered the Limca Book of World Records as a candidate who has been defeated the most number of times in Indian elections. So far, Padmarajan has spent Rs 50 lakhs on elections.
His last run was against Rahul Gandhi in Kerala’s Wayanad constituency.
Though he has filed nominations at Dharmadam, Padmarajan will not have much time to spend here. In response to a query on how long he would be in Kerala, Padmarajan said that he has to file nominations in four seats in Tamil Nadu too and has no time left.
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