Rajasthan Assembly Election 2023: After losing over 30 elections, 78-year-old Teetar Singh is all set to try his luck again in the 2023 Rajasthan polls. Singh has reportedly fought 31 elections — from Gram Panchayat to Lok Sabha since 1970s — and has faced a defeat every single time. But his passion and enthusiasm towards fighting for the rights of the people continues to encourage him to contest every — small or big — election.
Teetar Singh is fighting as a Independent candidate from the Karanpur assembly constituency. He has already filed his nomination from this seat. He told the Hindustan Times that he is contesting the election for the 32nd time.
“Why should I not fight,” Teetar Singh asked when questioned why was he contesting poll even after having lost over 30 elections so far.
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He told news agency PTI that he does not contest the polls for popularity or records. “The government should give land, facilities… this election is a fight for rights,” he said. It is a weapon to achieve his rights, the edges of which have not dulled with age, Singh claimed.
What encourages Teetar Singh to fight every single poll
Teetar Singh, a resident of ’25 F’ village, is a member of the Dalit community. He told PTI that he decided to contest elections for the first time in the 1970s when he felt people like him were deprived of land allotment in the canal command area.
Back then, he demanded the government to allot land to the landless and poor labourers. With this aim, he started entering the poll fray every time an opportunity came about.
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Singh said he contested elections one after the other, but his demand for allotment of land has still not been fulfilled. He said his sons also work as daily wage labourers. He has three daughters and two sons and that even his grandchildren have got married, he was quoted as saying.
Singh added that he has ₹2,500 cash as deposit capital but no land, property or vehicles.
On usual days, he works as a daily wage labourer under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) but as soon as elections come, he shifts focus to campaigning for himself.
But the results have never been in his favour and he has lost deposits every single time. Singh polled 938 votes in the 2008 Rajasthan assembly elections, 427 in the 2013 assembly elections and 653 votes in the 2018 assembly polls.
‘Four generations passed but…:” Teetar Singh on past Rajasthan govts
Teetar Singh hit out at the past government in the state and said, “My four generations have passed but the state governments, both of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the Congress have done nothing for the poor or for the development of the village. The government should give land, facilities to the poor people.”
Singh had got 653 votes in the 2018 assembly polls, 427 in the 2013 assembly elections, and 938 votes in the 2008 Rajasthan assembly elections, Live Hindustan reported.
The assembly elections in Rajasthan will be held on November 25, and the results will be declared on December 3.
(With inputs from PTI)
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Updated: 07 Nov 2023, 06:14 PM IST