UP ELECTION 2022: A 74-year-old is set to contest his 94th election from Kheragarh Assembly headquarters in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
Hasanuram Ambedkari filed his candidacy as an independent candidate.
Ambedkari works as a farm laborer and has a work card from MNREGA. He has no formal schooling but can read and write Hindi, Urdu, and English.
Ambedkari is a member of the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) founded by Kanshi Ram.
He said he fought all the elections according to the ideology of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar.
Ambedkari has contested elections since 1985 for various bodies including the Lok Sabha, State Assembly and panchayat elections from different seats.
He even applied for the post of President of India in 1988, but his candidacy was rejected.
He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the seats of Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. In 2021, he fought the Zila panchayat elections.
Ambedkari told IANS, “I contest elections to lose them. Winning politicians forget the masses. I want to set a record of losing elections 100 times. I don’t care who my opponents are as I contest elections to give an option to voters who believe in Ambedkar’s ideology.
He received the highest number of votes, 36,000, in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections from the seat of Firozabad.
Ambedkari began his door-to-door campaign for the UP Assembly elections with his wife and supporters.
“My agenda has always been impartial and corruption-free development and the welfare of the marginalized in society,” he said.
Ambedkari had joined the BSP for a short time. “I was a dedicated worker for BAMCEF and also worked for BSP to strengthen its roots in UP. In 1985 when I asked for a ticket I was ridiculed and told said that even my wife wouldn’t vote for me. I was deeply discouraged and since then I have run in every election as an independent candidate,” he said.
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