25 years, 7 victories and looking for ‘world record’ 8th

A generation of Congress leaders has grown old waiting for Sumitra Mahajan to lose from this commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. They came quite close to seeing that in 2009, when her victory margin was 11,480. The BJP veteran, first elected in 1989, is attempting an eighth consecutive Lok Sabha win. It’s going to be […]

A generation of Congress leaders has grown old waiting for Sumitra Mahajan to lose from this commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. They came quite close to seeing that in 2009, when her victory margin was 11,480.

The BJP veteran, first elected in 1989, is attempting an eighth consecutive Lok Sabha win. It’s going to be a world record, her aides say.

“You wait till the evening to see the crowds turn up,’’ she says when asked about the not-too-enthusiastic response to her roadshow early Tuesday, the last day of campaigning, as it winds through the posh colonies. “Unlike rural areas, the people here don’t join rallies,’’ explains an aide. “The scene will be different in the slums.’’ As the sun beats down hard, the turnout doesn’t get better.

Taking on Mahajan is Satyanarayan Patel (Congress), one of the richest candidates in the state, and advocate Anil Trivedi of the Aam Aadmi Party. Both target Mahajan for being inactive and unavailable. “If that’s the case, it’s an insult to Indore’s voters because they have elected me again and again,’’ she argues.

For 25 years her rivals, including those in her own party, have tried to scuttle her chances. “Jo kabhi nazar na aayi, vo Tai,’’ says local Congress chief Pramod Tandon, addressing a small gathering in Jinsi Haat maidan. The Congress often indulges in wordplay to rhyme with Tai — elder sister in Marathi — as Mahajan is fondly called by her supporters.

The BJP holds seven of the eight assembly seats falling under the Indore Lok Sabha constituency, which has nearly four lakh voters of Maharashtrian origin.

Patel, who lost to Mahajan in 2009, and also lost the recent assembly elections, insists people want change. “It’s time to recognise satya (truth),’’ scream large hoardings put up by the Congress playing on its candidate’s name.

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In Muslim areas, the Congress targets Narendra Modi rather than Mahajan or CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. In communally sensitive Khajrana, union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia talks of the BJP’s failed promise to build a Ram temple. “Khajrana will provide an answer to Modi’s politics of polarisation,’’ Patel tells a gathering, wondering how the BJP thinks of gods only during elections

Anil Trivedi, who was associated with the JP movement, lost the first of his three elections on the Janata Party symbol in 1977 by a slender margin. He has kept out of the hoardings race and promotes communal harmony. Asked whether lack of resources is an impediment, the 63-year-old insists there’s a groundswell of support for him and more than 500 volunteers are campaigning for him.