As returning officer VR Krishna Teja, who is also the District Collector, started accepting the nomination papers for the Lok Sabha election from Thrissur constituency on Thursday, Kunhambu Nair Padmarajan (64) was present to file the first nomination paper.

Since all the papers were in order, the returning officer accepted the same and Padmarajan rushed to Thrissur Railway Station to board the train to Kannur to visit his ancestral home and worship in front of the family deity.

Thrissur hogged the national limelight thanks to film actor-turned -politician Suresh Gopi who is contesting from the constituency as a BJP candidate. But for one day, people forget the star candidate and his challengers K Muraleedharan (Congress) and V S Sunil Kumar (CPI) and the focus was on Padmarajan.

Padmarajan is known all over the world as “election king” and his contest from Thrissur is his 240th battle of ballot box.

It is said about BJP leaders in Kerala that they contest the election only to get defeated. But Padmarajan is a man with a mission. Last week he filed nomination papers from Dharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu which has been accepted.

Owner of a roadside tyre-retreading shop at Mettur who is also a part time homeo medical practitioner, Padmarajan is not one who wastes money on election.

“I want the world to know me as one who democratised the election process. Thanks to my efforts. Candidates not sponsored by political outfits too get dignity and respect,” Padmarajan told The Pioneer after filing his nomination paper.

He has been contesting elections since 1988. “I had contested six presidential elections and an equal number of vice presidential polls. The Limca Book of Records has featured me twice while the Guinness Book of world Records featured me once,” said Padmarajan who has spent more than `1.5 crore on election related expenses.

His papers for  the presidential and vice-presidential elections were rejected during scrutiny as there were no MPs to propose his name.

It is not without reasons that Padmarajan files nominations and gets defeated in the polls. “It is because of me that the Election Commission introduced the provision to postpone the polls if an independent candidate dies or gets killed during electioneering. Till then the elections used to get countermanded only if the candidate happened to be from recognised political parties,” explained Padmarajan.

In the 1996 general election, Padmarajan set a record of sorts by filing nomination papers from five Lok Sabha constituencies and three Assembly constituencies spread across five States in the country. “This made the ECI to legislate a law limiting the number of States from where a candidate could contest elections,” Padmarajan recounted with a chuckle.

His only obsession is that he wants to be the first candidate to file the nomination paper. “In 1997 I went to the office of the Lok Sabha secretary general to file the nomination papers for the presidential election. The officials were not aware that filing of nomination papers begins on that day. When I told them that I had come to file the nomination papers for the presidential election, they were taken aback. It was only after checking the office records that they came to know about the significance of the day,” he said.

He is unlikely to campaign at Thrissur or Dharmapuri. But his name figures in the EVMs and his invisible image is hovering all over the office of the returning officers.

In addition to the 6 presidential and 6 vice presidential elections, Padmarajan has contested 32 Lok Sabha polls (excluding Thrissur and Dharmapuri), 51 Rajya Sabha elections, 76 Assembly polls,  four MLC elections and one Mayoral election. He has also contested for the post of Municipal Chairman’s post, and district councils. Padmarajan has contested against P V Narasimha Rao, A B Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi.

Those who leave their parties and switch over loyalties when they are denied tickets by the mother party should take a cue from this soft spoken man, a true Gandhian.