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As it is clear from the early trends that the BJP is heading towards forming the government single-handedly, there is no likelihood of regional parties playing the role of kingmakers in the current scenario. 
 
In fact, BJP seems all set to form the government on its own, without even requiring the help of its National Democratic Alliance partners like Akali Dal and Shiv Sena. 
 
BJP was leading in 271 constituencies in the initial trends and its other NDA partners – TDP, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal and LJP – leading in 16, 17, four and five seats, respectively. 
 
As on 12 March 2014, there are 1616 parties registered with the election commission, out of which the numbers of national parties was six and that of state parties was 47. 
 
Just after independence, in the 1950s and 60s, the Congress party dominated the national political scene. But the opposition started gaining some space during late 60s and early 70s, with the Janata Party even wresting power from the Congress in 1977. This event set the ball rolling for the mushrooming of a number of small parties. 
 Most small parties are one-man shows, who exercise absolute control over the party. While the coming up of new parties reflects more democratisation, these have tended to become internally less democratic. Leaders <keyword id="2243296" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="like-Jayalalitha">like Jayalalitha</keyword>, <keyword id="6357690" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="mayawati">Mayawati</keyword>, <keyword id="6357168" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mulayam-Singh-Yadav">Mulayam Singh Yadav</keyword>, <keyword id="43385" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Naveen-Patnaik">Naveen Patnaik</keyword> and <keyword id="18656" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Lalu-Prasad-Yadav">Lalu Prasad Yadav</keyword> have been running their respective parties single-handedly, without giving much room to internal dissent. 
 
Even in the run up to the 2014 elections, they were widely projected to play the role of kingmakers. But all these parties would be left high and dry if these initial trends get converted into results.

Kingmakers Left High And Dry

<table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">Tamil Nadu Election Results 2019 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">Seats (38/38) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#ffffff;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">AIIDMK </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">2 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#ffffff;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">CPI </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">2 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#ffffff;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">CPI (M) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">2 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#ffffff;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">DMK </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">22 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#ffffff;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">INC </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">8 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#ffffff;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">IUML </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">1 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#ffffff;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">PMK </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.75pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;">1 </td></tr></tbody></table> The state of Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in total. The Times Now-VMR exit poll forecasts that the AIADMK and the BJP alliance in the state will get only 9 seats which is down from the 37 seats won by the AIADMK in 2014. The Lok Sabha elections 2019 is the first time the two major parties in the state of Tamil Nadu namely DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) go for Lok Sabha polls without their iconic leaders Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha. In 2014 elections, the AIADMK scored 37 out of 39 Lok Sabha seats. The overwhelming performance of the party was a talk of the country since the party emerged as one of the largest parties in the Lok Sabha in opposition. The national party of Congress had secured only 44 seats in total all over the nation, which was just 7 seats more than those scored by the AIADMK, which contested only from Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha constituencies. In 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the AIADMK has scored 9 parliamentary seats from the state. Before the party got a thumping victory in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it showed a poor performance over the Lok Sabha elections 1999, 2004 and 2009. The AIADMK split into two after the demise of its heroic leader Jayalalithaa. In 2019, the party is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the national party BJP, and other regional parties like PMK and DMDK. After a series of twists and turns in the history of AIADMK in Tamil Nadu after the death of Jayalalitha, K Palaniswami of the party was elected as the general secretary and hence became the CM. The main opponent for the party in Tamil Nadu is DMK. The other two parties in the fray in Lok Sabha elections 2019 are AMMK of TTV Dhinkaran and MNM of Kamal Haasan.

AIADMK Lok Sabha Election Result 2019: AIADMK trailing behind DMK as per early trends

The <keyword id="43771" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Exit-polls">exit polls</keyword> conducted by various news channels have unanimously projected that NDA will get the magical figure of 272 or at least be in striking distance of forming the next government. 
 The exit polls also indicate that the <keyword id="14666" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="BJP">BJP</keyword> is all set to come up with its best ever performance. In contrast, the <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> is headed towards its worst ever performance, with its total number of seats projected to be in the range of 100, as per the exit polls. 
 Four channels – <keyword id="2238539" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="NewsX">NewsX</keyword>, <keyword id="211456" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India-TV">India TV</keyword>, <keyword id="1739243" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="ABP-News">ABP News</keyword> and <keyword id="60050" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="CNN-IBN">CNN-IBN</keyword> – have projected comfortable majority for the NDA. NewsX and India TV have projected 289 seats for the NDA while ABP News estimated that the NDA would capture 281 seats. However, Times Now was the most conservative in its projections, giving the NDA 249-265 <keyword id="6355187" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha">Lok Sabha</keyword> seats, while CNN-IBN gave it 279-282 seats. 
 
Hindi news channel News24 gave NDA a thumping majority and predicted it to bag 340 seats. On the other hand, Aaj Tak predicted the NDA figures in the range of 261-283. Even if the party gets 261, getting the support of 11 more MPs should not be too difficult, given the fact that the AIADMK chief Jayalalitha is said to be close to Narendra Modi and has extended her support to the coalition in the past during the tenure of the Vajpayee government. 
 
Most of the exit polls showed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) getting between 101 and 148 seats. NewsX gave the UPA 101 seats, India TV 107 seats, ABP News 97 and CNN-IBN 92-102. 
 
‘Others’, including regional parties like the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samajwadi Party, JD (U) and the Left Front, are estimated to get between 146 and 156 seats. 
 
The exit polls also forecast that the BJP would not be able to open its account in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. However, in the North, the Narendra Modi wave is projected to sweep away regional identity-based heavyweights like the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar. 
 
The BJP is likely have the biggest gains in Uttar Pradesh where two surveys expect it to bag 54 seats, just three less than its all-time high of 57 in 1998. Similarly, the exit polls ruled out the possibility of RJD’s revival. 
 
The debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is projected to get an average of only five seats, with a total vote share of about 4%.

Ab Ki Baar Modi
Sarkar? Exit Polls Suggest It Just Might Be

Dravida Munnetra Kahzhagam (DMK)’s Dayanidhi Maran has won over his rival, Sam Paul of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) by a margin of 3 lakh votes, in the Chennai Central constituency. Maran, the former Union Minister in the UPA government had taken up campaigning in full steam. He is hoping to reclaim his Chennai Central seat which he lost to All India Dravida Munnetra Kahzhagam (AIADMK)’s S R Vijayakumar last year, thanks to anti-Congress wave and his own corruption allegations. Not only has he won the seat thrice, his father Murasoli Maran has been holding on to the seat since 1996. But this time around, Maran refused to take tough questions on corruption during the campaign and stuck to welfare issues like water for his constituents, and hoping to gain from the DMK wave as predicted by exit polls 2019. His challengers are Dr Karthikeyan from NTK (Naam Tamilar Katchi); M Parthasarathi from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP; and Sam Paul S R from Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). In Chennai North, the contestants are Alagaapuram R. Mohanraj from DMDK, S. Robert Gnana Sekar from BSP; and Dr Kalanidhi Veeraswamy from DMK. This time around, BSP has fielded its candidates for all the three parliamentary constituencies in the metro. In Chennai South, its candidate is R Kumar. NTK however had only one candidate in Chennai Central. Kumar’s challengers are Sumathy alias Thamizhachi Thangapandian from DMK; and J Jayavardhan from AIADMK. Slow voting The elections in Chennai had missed the ‘Amma’ element with Jayalalitha’s death. Her replacement, actor Vijayakanth took up the mantle of campaigning on behalf of her party, but he too was marred by illness. This time, voter turnout had been dismal in the city as well as the state. In fact, the city’s voter turnout was the lowest in the state, at 59%. Within the constituencies, Chennai North had a better turnout at 61%, as compared to Chennai Central at 58% and Chennai South came in last with 57% turnout only. The city’s voter turnout has been declining each time in the last three elections.

Dayanidhi Maran wins by a stellar margin in Chennai Central

<ul><li>Tamil Nadu is going to poll for the first time in the second phase of the 2019 Parliamentary elections in India.</li></ul><ul><li>The Neduvasal hydrocarbon project and Chennai-Salem expressway project driven by the central government have faced severe public outrage. </li></ul><ul><li>The Narendra Modi government’s stance on imposing a central exam for medical college admissions has further tilted the scales in favour of its rivals.</li></ul><ul><li>While the country’s largest copper smelter operated by Sterlite has been shut by court order, the police firing that killed 14 protestors in 2018 is still fresh in the voters’ minds. </li></ul><ul><li>The blame for the shootout in Tuticorin fell on the ruling state government under AIADMK, which is now fighting the Parliamentary elections in alliance with the BJP. </li></ul>The voters of one of India’s <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/himachal-pradesh-tamil-nadu-and-kerala-top-ranking-in-sdg-index-niti-aayog/articleshow/67192585.cms">relatively developed states</a>, Tamil Nadu, are an angry lot. A series of missteps by the Narendra Modi government meant that their indignation has been directed towards the incumbent alliance between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On the other side is the coalition between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Indian National Congress, the Left Front, and a set of other local parties that significance within certain segments-- either geographically or among specific sections of the electorate. While there are other regional outfits and smaller coalitions in the fray, including the iconic movie star Kamal Hasan who is making his electoral debut, almost <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/lok-sabha-elections-2019/tamil-nadu/news/tamil-nadu-poll-survey-says-dmk-front-to-get-30-33-lok-sabha-seats/articleshow/68784727.cms">all opinion polls</a> in the run up to the elections have handed a landslide to the challengers led by the DMK and Congress. There are at least four big decisions that work against the incumbent <keyword id="5013725" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="AIADMK-BJP-Alliance">AIADMK-BJP alliance</keyword>. A small oil field In 2015, the <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/energy/no-noble-gases-57750">Modi government approved a project to dig</a> for oil and natural gas from a 10 square kilometre field in Neduvasal, in Pudukottai district. The reason being the oil field was located in one of the more fertile parts of Tamil Nadu’s delta region around the Cauvery river. The proposal to dig for oil in the region scratched the wounds of an existing wound in the minds of the local farmers. A standoff with the neighbouring state of Karnataka over <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/a-brief-history-of-the-cauvery-dispute/tale-of-two-states/slideshow/63698683.cms">the sharing of Cauvery’s water</a> is decades old. Even after a settlement ordered by the Supreme Court, the farmers’ in Tamil Nadu’s rice bowl feel parched as well as wronged by the system. Farmers were caught by surprise when they were asked to give up their land to extract oil, while they were still hoping to their share of water to till the land. A big highway Farmers have been up in arms in five other districts too, far away from Neduvasal. The point of contention is an eight-lane expressway stretching nearly 280 kilometres west from the state capital Chennai to the industrial town of Salem. Once again the BJP has found itself in the firing line of the voters as it continues to push for the project despite stiff resistance that the party’s rivals have capitalised on. The Madras High Court on April 8 quashed the land acquisition process for the Chennai-Salem Expressway project. The challenging coalition led by Congress and the DMK have vowed to scrap the project if voted to power. A medical entrance test Seventeen-year-old Anitha, an aspiring medical student, committed suicide in September 2017 after she failed to clear the then newly-introduced medical entrance exam, that goes by the acronym NEET. The National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) replaced the admission tests for medical colleges across the country with a centralised process. The <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-neet-election-issue-tamil-nadu-98604">people’s resentment against NEET</a> stems from the view that it puts local students, even the high-scorers, at a disadvantage because the curriculum is structured based on the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which is different from the state syllabus. The state administration’s high-handed approach in the wake of protests, and <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/story/piyush-goyal-neet-tamil-nadu-bjp-aiadmk-1500468-2019-04-12">the BJP’s persistence</a> on imposing NEET, has only hurt the alliance’s chances in the state. Once again, BJP’s rivals have promised to let states decide the mode of admission into medical colleges. The <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Politics/QgYD6W50rev6VcHmGs9GKP/NEET-protests-More-states-join-the-fight.html">protests against NEET was not unique</a> to Tamil Nadu, but the outrage in the southern state was the most severe. Tamil Nadu is known for its huge population of aspiring doctors. The state has 22 medical colleges, among the highest in the country, and 4 doctors for every 1,000 people, <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/6-states-have-more-doctors-than-whos-11000-guideline/articleshow/65640694.cms">nearly at par with</a> developed countries like Norway and Sweden. Despite the enduring resentment, Tamil Nadu had the <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/education/2019/feb/03/tamil-nadu-has-the-highest-number-of-doctors-who-cleared-pg-neet-1933745.html">maximum number of students</a> clearing the NEET exam in 2019. The shootout In May 2018, The Tamil Nadu Police <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/sterlite-violence-video-shows-policemen-taking-aim-and-shooting-protesters-81744">opened fire at a sea of protestors</a> outside the country’s largest copper smelter, operated by Sterlite, a Vedanta Group company. More than 10 people died in the shootout and the public anger that swelled further poured on the ruling state government led by the AIADMK. Sterlite’s plant was accused of violating pollution norms, causing fatal health issues to its workers and the population in its vicinity. Local protests against the plant have been underway in patches since 1996, and they escalated once again in 2018 leading up to the <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/editorials/tuticorin-massacre/594415.html">‘Tuticorin Massacre’</a>. Subsequent probe and judicial inquiry revealed gaping regulatory lapses, eventually leading to the closure of the plant pending investigations and corrections. The London-based Vedanta Group has been a big donor to <a href="https://www.thequint.com/news/india/sterlite-congress-bjp-fcra-violation-finance-bill-amendments">both the BJP and the Congress</a> between 2004 and 2015. However, BJP also found itself further on the wrong side of the debate soon after the issue came to the fore, as some of its leaders tried to colour some of the protestors as anti-social elements. 
	
	<div type="twitter" handle="HRajaBJP" handlename="Chowkidar H Raja" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/690063070870241280/uH8lVPNK_normal.jpg" favoritecount="668" retweetcount="333" status="Not only Thoothukudi even the protest against the 8 way highway is orchestrated by the same anti social elements. https://t.co/UcjvxjiDsV" createdat="1530593499000" id="1014008749197946880"></div>





 Going into the 2019 elections, the party is in alliance with the regional party, AIADMK, which bore the brunt of the public anger. A year on, the memory of the lethal attack on protestors is still fresh among voters, particularly in the region. As is the outrage against NEET, the Chennai-Salem expressway, and the proposed oil field in Neduvasal. The odds are heavily stacked against the AIADMK-BJP alliance. This is the first-time in decades that Tamil Nadu is going to polls without a strong, regional leader to back. Over decades, a series of larger-than-life leaders, with their share of taints, from <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/india/cn-annadurai-legacy-of-a-dravidian-stalwart-6007351.html">CN Annadurai</a> to <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19880115-m.g.-ramachandran-death-marks-the-passing-of-an-era-of-stability-in-tamil-nadu-796866-1988-01-15">MG Ramachandran</a> to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/karunanidhi-1924-2018/newslist/65311339.cms">M Karunanidhi</a> and <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/jayalalithaas-legacy/article9435860.ece">J Jayalalitha</a> had turned Tamil Nadu into a politically unbreachable fortress for national parties. The mandate kept passing between the DMK and AIADMK for years. However, the passing away of Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha in recent years has left a political vacuum that the national parties intended to capitalise on. Neither the BJP nor the Congress by itself has made any significant headway so far.

Tamil Nadu’s angry voters have a small oil field, a big highway, a medical entrance test, and a police shootout in mind

NEW DELHI: BJP faces a tough test in Bihar, <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> stares at a saffron challenge in Maharashtra and regional outfits contend with turning pitches on 117 <keyword id="6355187" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha">Lok Sabha</keyword> seats across 11 states and one union territory where polling is due on Thursday. 
 
The 2014 Lok Sabha polls will be more than half over after elections to 347 seats are complete after the sixth phase of voting, with the 84, 91 and 41 seats left in the remaining phases. 
 
BJP and Congress are squaring off in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and state bosses like Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, AIADMK's J Jayalalitha and NCP leader Sharad Pawar are also slugging it out with their rivals. 
 
This phase will settle the fate of political biggies like SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj besides others like PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, DMK's A Raja and Congress’s Mohammad Azharuddin. 
 
The political topography is a challenge to BJP and Congress which need to defend turfs while seeking fresh gains even as regional forces like SP, BSP, AIADMK and DMK look to do much the same, with the difference that some now see BJP as an unanticipated threat. 
 
All of 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and one seat of Puducherry will go to polls while elections will be over in major states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. In Maharashtra the populous bell weather Mumbai-Thane-Kalyan belt will vote along with northern areas and Raigad. 
 The contests in Mumbai are keen, with Shiv Sena-BJP hoping to snatch seats from Congress-NCP riding on an anti-UPA wave and the diminished presence of <keyword id="6355257" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Raj-Thackeray">Raj Thackeray</keyword>'s MNS. 
 
 
 
 
Tamil Nadu is a fascinating mosaic, with front runner AIADMK losing some steam while DMK reportedly making a comeback of sorts and BJP’s unlikely alliance with DMDK, MDMK and PMK emerging as a force on its own. 
 In Bihar, a virtual eclipse of <keyword id="123462" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Janata-Dal">Janata Dal</keyword> (U) poses problems for BJP with the fight appearing bi-polar in the five seats in Seemanchal and two that fall outside the region. There is a sizeable Muslim population in all seats and though BJP has been winning Araria, Purnea, Katihar and Bhagalpur, it now faces elections on its own. RJD boss Lalu Prasad and Congress seem to be back in the reckoning in the state. 
 
Mulayam Singh Yadav defends his base of Etah-Mainpuri-Etawah, areas where he must score to check a resurgent BJP with reports from 21 seats in western UP and Rohilkhand indicating gains for the saffronites. 
 
Though support for BSP is harder to gauge, SP’s main regional rival seems to be feeling the heat with religious polarisation post Muzaffarnagar riots making several contests primarily BJP versus SP affairs. 
 For BJP, the stakes continue to be high with its prime ministerial candidate <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> campaigning hard, addressing rallies in Hardoi, Etah, Firozabad and Mathura on Monday hoping for significant gains. 
 
The Jat vote is a factor in just as Yadavs are expected to rally behind SP while Akbarpur has sent BSP chief Mayawati to Lok Saba twice, most recently in 2004. 
 
In Rajasthan, prestigious Jat-influenced seats like Alwar and Bharatpur are due to poll along with constituencies like Tonk, Dausa and Sawai-Madhopur. 
 
In Chhattisgarh, urbanising seats like Durg, Raipur and Bilaspur will be voting with Congress hoping to loosen BJP's seeming stranglehold. 
 In West Bengal, Abhijeet Mukherjee, son of President <keyword id="6359124" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Pranab-Mukherjee">Pranab Mukherjee</keyword>, is facing an uphill battle, with Murshidabad presenting the only bright spot for the party. 
 In Assam constituencies like Kokrajhar, that witnessed fierce rioting, and capital Guwahati are going to polls. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP veterans like Sumitra Mahajan (Indore) and Sushma Swaraj (Vidisha) will seek re-election besides Congress's Meenakshi Natarajan, seen to be close to <keyword id="5268" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Rahul-Gandhi">Rahul Gandhi</keyword>, from Mandsaur.

Lok Sabha Polls: Voting In 117 Seats Today; Congress Faces Saffron Challenge

New Delhi, From appealing people not to vote for them to flaunting the unsuccessful tag, changing name in each election to losing huge sums of money in security deposits -- some tenacious <keyword id="20022603" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="independent" source="keywords">Independent</keyword> candidates have tried these all but losing elections became a habit for them. Tamil Nadu's K Padmarajan, who proudly calls himself the "Election King", might be the only candidate in the election fray who urges people not to vote for him, so he can retain his tag of being "most unsuccessful candidate", a feat also registered in the Limca Book of records. The 65-year-old tyre repair shop owner also finds pride in his entry in the <keyword id="19981515" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="guinness-book-of-world-records" source="keywords">Guinness Book of World Records</keyword> for candidate with most contested elections. He claims to have lost Rs 80 lakh so far in security deposits which gets forfeited every time he loses an election besides expenses for filing nomination amid fanfare. Gearing up for his 239th attempt, Padmarajan has filed his nomination for the 18th <keyword id="19895394" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lok-sabha" source="keywords">Lok Sabha</keyword> elections from Thrissur in Kerala and Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu. "I began fighting elections in 1988 from my home town of Mettur, located in Tamil Nadu. I have contested 238 elections so far including against former prime ministers <keyword id="20374221" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="atal-bihar-vajpayee" source="keywords">Atal Bihar Vajpayee</keyword>, P V Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. This will be my 239th attempt. I pick a unique battle every time," he told PTI. Asked about his campaign plans, Padmarajan said, "I ask people not vote for me, I don't want the votes but I want to continue to hold the tag of most unsuccessful candidate. I don't campaign but when I go for filing nomination, I do that in a grand way." From former chief ministers like Jayalalitha, M Karunanidhi, YSR Reddy and AK Antony to filmstars Hema Malini and Vijayakanth -- the list of bigwigs against whom Padmarajan has contested is long. Indore's Parmanand <keyword id="21190647" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tolani" source="keywords">Tolani</keyword> is taking forward his father's legacy who fought elections as independent candidate for three decades. "My father passed away in 1988 and I am taking forward his legacy. I have contested 18 elections so far including eight Lok Sabha and eight Vidhan Sabha. I will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls too," 65-year-old Tolani told PTI. "My father's wish was that we do not have to stop the trend till someone from the family gets elected. If I am not able to do it in my lifetime, my two daughters will carry forward the baton," said Tolani, who is a property broker. <keyword id="21190648" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vijay-prakash-kodekar" source="keywords">Vijay Prakash Kodekar</keyword> from <keyword id="19897309" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pune" source="keywords">Pune</keyword>, a retired staffer from state electricity board, has a different agenda behind contesting elections as independent candidate -- advocating zero budget poll campaigns. He can be seen pushing a steel cart on wheels in streets of Latur, where he is planning to contest the Lok Sabha polls. A flex board on the cart says "Main bhi Pradhanmantri". "The message why cannot any poor individual be the Prime Minister of the country. Why this exorbitant expenditure by parties on election campaigns? Polls can be fought on zero budget and the money can be utilised for public welfare," said 78-year-old Kodekar, who campaigns wearing a white dhoti. Having contested 24 elections so far, Kodekar uses a different name for different elections. "Some elections I have contested using the name Vijay, some with 'Rashtrapati' and some with the name 'Znyosho' -- as I am a disciple of Osho. I complete the name change formalities and then I contest the polls using the new name," he said. Hyderabad techie Ravinder Uppula, uses different campaign strategies for each Lok Sabha election he fights. In 2014 -- it was anti-corruption march and in 2019 it was a liquid only fast. "I promise during my campaign that if I get elected, I will get a lie detector test done every 100 days so public who votes for me doesn't feel cheated. That is how our politicians should do as well to weed out corruption," he said. Uppula, however, is disappointed with the poll campaign expenses. "It should not be an expensive deal to canvass in this country, an agenda and the right promise should be enough rather than the poll fray leaving the voters with no choice except voting for a smaller thief or a bigger thief," he added. The strange obsession of the independent candidates has also been featured in the book "The Power of The Ballot: Travail and Triumph in the Elections". Sharing the saga of some of the independent candidates' stint at the elections, the book decodes "why do some people contest every time knowing they will lose?" Kaka Joginder Singh, also known as "Dhartipakad", was a textile-shop owner who contested and lost over 300 elections. He died in 1998. In elections, he always contested independently, and always lost his security deposits. He earned the nickname Dhartipakad after several unsuccessful runs for the post of the President of India. The year with the greatest yield for him was during the tenth presidential elections in 1992 in which he earned fourth place in the polling with 1,135 votes, losing to Shankar Dayal Sharma; it was his best performance. He also contested elections from 14 states of India in the 1990s, mostly for state assemblies. Singh died in 1998. Long before <keyword id="19895781" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="narendra-modi" source="keywords">Narendra Modi</keyword> chose Varanasi as an election destination, the city had Narendra Nath Dubey "Adig". Often referred to as Kashi's Dhartipakad, he has been fighting every election as an independent candidate since 1984, losing his security deposit each time. He passed away in 2022.

PM campaign on a cart, most unsuccessful record: Independents who never call it quits

For many years now <keyword id="619691" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Publishing-industry">publishing industry</keyword> pundits have been sounding the death knell of the printed book. Yet, year after year the printed book has continued to withstand the digital onslaught, and remains the most favoured format for readers. Last year print <keyword id="5050" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="books">books</keyword> in India grew by 15% and the contribution of digital books to total sales amounted to a miniscule 5-10%. In spite of this, new entrants to publishing like Juggernaut and more recently the Pune-based, mobile-only publisher Readify are pushing boundaries and experimenting with content and format. In just 8 months since its launch, the Juggernaut mobile app has seen more than 560k+ users and 180,000 book downloads. Of all the digital books, 30 titles have been downloaded more than 1000 times. Most of these include classics like Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Rudyard Kipling, mass market romance, topical non-fiction such as Caste is Not a Rumour by Rohith Vemula, India Vs Pakistan by Hussain Haqqani, Operation Cactus by Sushant Singh, or books that benefited from certain events such as Vasanthi’s Amma and Mahashweta Devi’s short story Fishermen. 
 
It seems that debut literary fiction struggles as much on apps as in print. Juggernaut is actively commissioning content and stories to time them with current events. It has also tied up with top newspapers and magazines such as The Hindu, Mint, Caravan and Business Standard to curate digital books out of their existing archives. For instance, Juggernaut has recently published a digital book on Jayalalitha in collaboration with The Hindu. Titled Jayalalithaa: The Struggle for Power: 1982-1991.The book ‘presents startling interviews with the famously enigmatic politician. Interspersed with reportage, they provide a rich sense of the erstwhile CM's difficult early years along with her incredible will to succeed’. 
 
The consumption of books on the app shows interesting trends – for instance, short crime and horror sell more on digital than in print, especially if they are written by Indian authors. App based publishers are also discouraging lengthy tomes and a lot of the commissioning is done strictly keeping the word count in mind. “The format of the content being published will evolve to match the new delivery vehicles and the new target customers. The full-length novel is not suitable to be read on the relatively smaller screens of mobile phones. This won't adversely affect the prospects of full-length books, which already have a home in print publishing. It's going to be the time for flash fiction, short stories, and novellas’, says Readify’s Vivek Rao, who is also a fiction writer. Readify has signed the rights to filmmaker Vikram Bhatt’s flash fiction, which the author used to post regularly on his Facebook page. Rao feels that reading on mobile apps will break through unlike ebooks which couldn’t penetrate tier 2 and tier 3 towns where fewer people use laptops and tablets. Mobile phones, on the other hand, are everywhere. With the absence of printing and distribution costs (although these are offset to an extent by tech development costs), the pressure on pricing is much less. That said, it would take a few years to make these ventures profitable because initially a lot of books are offered at attractive discounts. 
 
Technology also addresses the rampant issue of piracy faced by print books. Both Readify and Juggernaut have built in several security features, including encryption of all content, so that piracy becomes extremely difficult. Business journalist and voracious book reader Chitra Narayanan gave me an interesting perspective on mobile apps: 
 
‘There are huge cost savings. These books are half the price of physical books. So the volume of the books one buys goes up. But it does not necessarily mean that you read more. It just means the volume of unread books piles up! Thanks to them I am diversifying my reading. Earlier there were select authors one would buy as one was generally hesitant to experiment. Now, because of sample chapter reads being free I read the free chapter and feel emboldened to buy the book.’ 
 
Almost everyone I spoke to agreed that print will remain untouched by these new digital platforms although the latter will be instrumental in drawing younger, traditionally book-averse people to reading. ‘Mobile publishing will not eat into the conventional market. There's a very limited overlap between the two markets. People who currently buy print books will continue to do so. Mobile publishing will bring in hordes of new readers - youngsters who are currently not reading at all.’, says Rao. Full Circle’s Priyanka Malhotra couldn’t be less bothered by such technologies and is only concerned by the threat posed to traditional bookstores by online selling platforms. Juggernaut’s Anish Chandy reports an excellent performance by the print division, with their first 21 books selling a combined 2.4 lakh copies. 
 
(About the Author: The article is authored by <a href="http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/writersside2010/">Kanishka Gupta</a>, one of the key players in <keyword id="2808548" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-publishing-market">Indian publishing market</keyword> and was the youngest author on Man Asian Literary Prize in 2009)

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