{"id":12606,"date":"2024-03-29T00:11:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T00:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/29\/238-defeats-and-looking-for-more-tn-man-who-lost-to-modi-atal-manmohan-rahul-india-news-times-of-india\/"},"modified":"2024-03-29T00:11:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T00:11:20","slug":"238-defeats-and-looking-for-more-tn-man-who-lost-to-modi-atal-manmohan-rahul-india-news-times-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/29\/238-defeats-and-looking-for-more-tn-man-who-lost-to-modi-atal-manmohan-rahul-india-news-times-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"238 defeats, and looking for more: TN man who lost to Modi, Atal, Manmohan, Rahul | India News &#8211; Times of India"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-108863764,imgsize-1211908.cms?fit=1280,720&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"238 defeats, and looking for more: TN man who lost to Modi, Atal, Manmohan, Rahul | India News &#8211; Times of India\" title=\"238 defeats, and looking for more: TN man who lost to Modi, Atal, Manmohan, Rahul | India News &#8211; Times of India\" \/><\/div>\n<div>METTUR: Despite failing 238 times in his bid for public office in India, K <!-- -->Padmarajan<!-- --> is unperturbed as he prepares, yet again, to contest <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/elections\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" target=\"\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"noopener\">elections<\/a> in the world&#8217;s largest democracy.<br \/>The 65-year-old tyre repair shop owner began fighting elections in 1988 from his home town of Mettur in <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/tamil-nadu\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" target=\"\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"noopener\">Tamil Nadu<\/a>. People laughed when he threw his hat into the ring, but he said he wanted to prove that an ordinary man can take part.<br \/>&#8220;All candidates seek victory in elections,&#8221; he said, sporting a bright shawl draped over his shoulder and an imposing walrus moustache.&#8221;Not me.&#8221;<br \/>For him, the victory is in participating, and when his defeat inevitably comes, he is &#8220;happy losing&#8221;, he claimed.<br \/>This year, in the six-week-long general elections that begin on April 19, he is contesting a parliamentary seat in Tamil Nadu&#8217;s Dharmapuri district.<br \/>Popularly dubbed the &#8220;Election King&#8221;, Padmarajan has competed across the country in elections ranging from presidential to local polls. Over the years, he has lost to PM <!-- -->Narendra Modi<!-- -->, former premiers <!-- -->Atal Bihari Vajpayee<!-- --> and <!-- -->Manmohan Singh<!-- -->, and Congress scion <!-- -->Rahul Gandhi. &#8220;Victory is secondary,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Who is the opposite candidate? I do not care.&#8221; Padmarajan&#8217;s main preoccupation now is extending his losing streak.<br \/>It hasn&#8217;t come cheap &#8211; he estimates he has spent lakhs in over three decades of nomination fees. That includes a security deposit of Rs 25,000 for his latest tilt, which will not be refunded unless he wins more than 16% of the vote.<br \/>His one victory has been to earn a place as India&#8217;s most unsuccessful candidate in the Limca Book of Records, the country&#8217;s archive of records held by Indians. <\/div>\n<p><script>!(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n    function loadFBEvents(isFBCampaignActive) {\n      if (!isFBCampaignActive) {\n        return;\n      }\n      (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n        if (f.fbq) return;\n        n = f.fbq = function() {\n          n.callMethod ? n.callMethod(...arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);\n        };\n        if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n        n.push = n;\n        n.loaded = !0;\n        n.version = '2.0';\n        n.queue = [];\n        t = b.createElement(e);\n        t.async = !0;\n        t.defer = !0;\n        t.src = v;\n        s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n        s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n      })(f, b, e, 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js', n, t, s);\n      fbq('init', '593671331875494');\n      fbq('track', 'PageView');\n    };\n    function loadGtagEvents(isGoogleCampaignActive) {\n      if (!isGoogleCampaignActive) {\n        return;\n      }\n      var id = document.getElementById('toi-plus-google-campaign');\n      if (id) {\n        return;\n      }\n      (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n        t = b.createElement(e);\n        t.async = !0;\n        t.defer = !0;\n        t.src = v;\n        t.id = 'toi-plus-google-campaign';\n        s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n        s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n      })(f, b, e, 'https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=AW-877820074', n, t, s);\n    };\n    function loadSurvicateJs(allowedSurvicateSections = []){\n      const section =  window.location.pathname.split('\/')[1]\n      const isHomePageAllowed = window.location.pathname === '\/' && allowedSurvicateSections.includes('homepage')\n      if(allowedSurvicateSections.includes(section) || isHomePageAllowed){\n        (function(w) {\n          var s = document.createElement('script');\n          s.src=\"https:\/\/survey.survicate.com\/workspaces\/0be6ae9845d14a7c8ff08a7a00bd9b21\/web_surveys.js\";\n          s.async = true;\n          var e = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];\n          e.parentNode.insertBefore(s, e);\n        })(window);\n      }\n    }\n    window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {};\n    var TimesApps = window.TimesApps;\n    TimesApps.toiPlusEvents = function(config) {\n      var isConfigAvailable = \"toiplus_site_settings\" in f && \"isFBCampaignActive\" in f.toiplus_site_settings && \"isGoogleCampaignActive\" in f.toiplus_site_settings;\n      var isPrimeUser = window.isPrime;\n      if (isConfigAvailable && !isPrimeUser) {\n        loadGtagEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isGoogleCampaignActive);\n        loadFBEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isFBCampaignActive);\n        loadSurvicateJs(f.toiplus_site_settings.allowedSurvicateSections);\n      } else {\n        var JarvisUrl=\"https:\/\/vsp1jarvispvt.indiatimes.com\/v1\/feeds\/toi_plus\/site_settings\/643526e21443833f0c454615?db_env=published\";\n        window.getFromClient(JarvisUrl, function(config){\n          if (config) {\n            loadGtagEvents(config?.isGoogleCampaignActive);\n            loadFBEvents(config?.isFBCampaignActive);\n            loadSurvicateJs(config?.allowedSurvicateSections);\n          }\n        })\n      }\n    };\n  })(\n    window,\n    document,\n    'script',\n  );<\/script><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>METTUR: Despite failing 238 times in his bid for public office in India, K Padmarajan is unperturbed as he prepares, yet again, to contest elections in the world&#8217;s largest democracy.The 65-year-old tyre repair shop owner began fighting elections in 1988 from his home town of Mettur in Tamil Nadu. People laughed when he threw his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-108863764,imgsize-1211908.cms","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[18016,18015,1616,6176,67,1615,273,1612,1613,3131,108,18017,18014,1686,2910,271,18013,1379,2379,4715,272,1614],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12606"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12608,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12606\/revisions\/12608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}