After 238 Defeats Tyre Repair Shop Owner Padmarajan Ready to Contest LS Polls Again

Chennai: Despite facing defeats 238 times in the past, K Padmarajan, The 65-year-old tyre repair shop owner of Mettur in Tamil Nadu is ready to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections again.

In 1988, he contested from his home town Mettur to start his regular fights in elections without any desire to win.

This year, he is contesting in a parliamentary seat in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri district.

He is popularly known as “Election King”. Padmarajan has contested in elections across the country ranging from presidential to local polls.

He takes pride in claiming that he has lost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former PMs Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

According to him, he has spent lakhs of rupees in more than three decades for depositing the nomination fees. He has made a security deposit of Rs 25,000 for his recent nomination, which will not be refunded unless he wins more than 16 per cent of the vote.

He is proud that his name is included in the Limca Book of Records as India’s most unsuccessful candidate.

In addition to his tyre repair shop, Padmarajan provides homoeopathic remedies and works as an editor for local media.

Padmarajan says, he will continue to contest in elections until his last breath.