Agra's Hasnuram Ambedkari Dharti Pakad closer to his target of contesting 100 elections

Agra's Hasnuram Ambedkari 'Dharti Pakad' first contested elections in 1985, but after 98 electoral defeats, the 78-year-old is still excited to reach his target of contesting 100 elections by filing his nomination in this Lok Sabha election. Ambedkari, who earns his living as a MNREGA labourer, says, “This time too I am sure that I will lose on both the seats. But, my aim is to contest elections for the 100th time and after that I will not contest any election.

Ambedkari, a resident of Kheragarh tehsil of Agra district, had contested his first election in March 1985 as an independent against the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) candidate from Kheragarh assembly seat. He had nomination papers in his hand again on Friday. He said that this time he will file nomination from Agra reserved seat and Fatehpur Sikri seat.

Ambedkari said, “I have contested elections for Gram Pradhan, State Assembly, Gram Panchayat, MLA, MLC and Lok Sabha since 1985. I had also filed my candidature for the post of President of India but it was rejected.

Joginder Singh had contested more than 300 elections, including the Presidential elections. When Ambedkari was asked what motivated him to continuously contest elections, he said, "I left my job as 'Amin' in Agra tehsil in the end of 1984 because BSP asked me to do so. Had promised to give ticket to contest elections from Kheragarh seat.'' He said, ''But later the then convenor of the party in the area refused to give me the ticket and he made fun of me 'Not even your wife can vote for you.'' Ambedkari said, to avenge the insult, he contested the elections from this seat and in the election results he got the third position. He said, “I plan to contest more elections to prove that I too can get votes from the people.”