NEW DELHI, FEB 10: 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.
ANOTHER ODD BALL:
Harbhajan Singh (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 povertyin 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..''
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, luring slum-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.''
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
