Madhya Pradesh Man Jumps Into Poll Contest Despite 18 Defeats

Unfazed by defeats 18 times in various elections he contested over the last three-and-a-half decades, Indore resident Parmanand Tolani has not lost hope and he has now filed nomination for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly polls. The 63-year-old real estate businessman claims that contesting an election boosts his self-confidence, though he has every time lost his security deposit.

The serial defeat in elections has earned him the title of "Indori Dharti Pakad", drawing the name from late Kaka Joginder Singh aka 'Dharti Pakad', from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh who had contested and lost several elections in the country.

On Monday, Tolani filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Indore-4 seat for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections scheduled on November 17.

His family comes from a non-political background and has been famous for contesting elections for the last two generations. But, no member of his family has won any election, rather every time they have also lost their security deposit.

Tolani's father contested different polls for 30 years, and his daughter has also expressed the wish to join this unique family convention.

After filing his nomination, Tolani told PTI, "This will be my 19th election. Before this, I have contested polls 18 times, including for the Lok Sabha, assembly and mayoral post." He said once he had also made his wife Lakshmi Tolani contest the mayoral election, as at that time the mayor's post was reserved for a woman candidate.

Though every time he has to forfeit his security deposit, Tolani claimed his confidence gets a boost by contesting elections.

"The people of Indore are very intelligent. I hope they will definitely make me victorious some time or the other," he said.

Tolani said this time he has promised the voters that if he wins the election, he will ensure complete exemption to the people from property tax on buildings with an area of up to 1,000 square feet, and also in the fee charged by the municipal corporation for door-to-door garbage collection.

He said his father Metharam Tolani, who ran a printing press in the city, had contested different elections continuously for 30 years during his lifetime.

"After my father's death in 1988, I started contesting elections from 1989," he said.

The next generation of Tolani family is also getting ready to enter the electoral fray.

His daughter Nisha (32) said, "At present, my focus is on my job, but if the need arises in future, my sister and I will definitely carry forward our family tradition of contesting elections."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)