NEW DELHI, FEB 9: It is not pessimism, or even negative fatalism. But few candidates, contesting the general elections, already know that they have lost. Yet, they will contest again, the way they did last time and the time before that.Maharaj Kumar (48), an advocate, is contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the seventh time. He lost on all the earlier six times, but that does not bother him.
He was patiently waiting outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner, New Delhi, on January 21 for the filing of nominations to begin. He was the first candidate to file his papers from this constituency.
Maharaj Kumar's party, not recognised by the Elections Commission, is strangely called `Danda, Khambha aur Goli Party'.
``It means that the only way to check corruption is to first use danda or strict enforcement. If that does not work then use a khambha or a pole to hang the corrupt person. If even this fails then use goli or bullets. In a nutshell, corruption can only be checked by punishment,'' hesays.
The maximum votes he had ever polled were 8,000 and he has been contesting the elections since 1977.
On his poll prospects he says, ``I am sure I will not win. For campaigning and winning an election one needs cash and criminals. I have neither. So I will lose.''
Then why does he contest the polls: ``Because I want people to know that such solutions are possible.''
What made a lawyer launch a party which talks of direct punishment. ``Our legal system has lost all its relevance. The only solution possible can come from radical thinking like mine,'' he says.
But he is sure that his ideal will help. ``Once this formula to check corruption is put into practice, there will be all round progress and prosperity,'' he points out.
HIS HAND-WRITTEN MANIFESTO:
* No residential houses in and around Delhi for 40 km radius.* No elections in the country for at least 25 years.* Maximum time of trail for any case to be nine months.* Population of India to be between 40 crore and 50 crore.HarbhajanSingh (57), a soft-spoken businessman from Vijay Nagar area of the Walled City, was a matriculate who was forced to migrate to India after the partition. He tried till 1967 to find a way out of the chaos, the apathy and the chronic poverty in which he found himself.
It was when he discovered that politicians have a very short memory of their promises, which usually lasts till the polling day, he joined the Republican Party, but it only added to his disillusionment.
And in 1967 he started contesting the Parliamentary elections from Chandni Chowk. ``I went to various political parties looking for a ticket, but it was then that I discovered that they were not interested in a good candidate. They could take me in but a ticket would be impossible for me. That took a lot of politicking which I could not do.''
Subsequently, he started contesting as an Independent. ``I realised that big political parties can not concentrate on developmental work as they have to bother about coming to power, luringslum-dwellers, encouraging communalism.''
On his chances this time, Harbhajan Singh says: ``There are more chances of losing than winning this elections, but how will one get a chance without standing in the queue.''
His one-point manifesto is ending all slums. ``My argument is simple. Why make the lives of slum-dwellers miserable by giving them space, if you cannot give them clean living conditions.''
He set up a shop in Daryaganj and later expanded to Nai Sarak. But the 1984 riots took their toll on his business, one of his shop was burnt down in the frenzy after the Indira Gandhi assassination.
Since then he has come a long way, he has rehabilitated his business but nothing has been able to change his one obsession: to contest every elections from Chandni Chowk, which he has been doing for the past 31 years.
In 1967, he contested as an Independent candidate for municipal corporation for Matia Mahal, in 1972 he stood for metropolitan polls for Chandni Chowk. In 1978 he stood for municipalcorporation again, in 1980 stood for the Lok Sabha elections, in 1994 for the Delhi Assembly and in 1996 again for the Lok Sabha.
He filed his nomination papers recently for the third time for Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
