Poll veteran, former Karnataka Chief Minister and state senior Congress leader, N Dharam Singh, one the biggest losers in the last assembly polls, is hoping to court victory in the Lok Sabha polls from Bidar where he is in a straight fight with the BJP candidate Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli.
Singh faced the most embarrassing electoral debacle of his political career of four decades in the last Assembly polls when the eight time MLA from Jewargi constituency in Gulbarga district was trounced by a political novice BJP's Doddappa Gowda Patil Naribol in his home turf.
Singh then narrowly missed the chance of creating a record for being the only candidate of winning from a single assembly constituency for the ninth time in a row. Singh lost by a margin of just 52 votes to his rival.
The former KPCC President has this time been fielded from Bidar (which has post-delimitation become a general seat) despite strong opposition from the local Congress workers, who said he was an unsuitable candidate as he had earlier lost from his own home turf.
This is the second time Singh is contesting a Lok Sabha elections. Singh had won the Lok Sabha polls in 1980 from Gulbarga with a margin of 1.2 lakh votes. However, he had to resign immediately to allow Congress leader late C M Stephen to contest from there.
{{/usCountry}}This is the second time Singh is contesting a Lok Sabha elections. Singh had won the Lok Sabha polls in 1980 from Gulbarga with a margin of 1.2 lakh votes. However, he had to resign immediately to allow Congress leader late C M Stephen to contest from there.
{{/usCountry}}Stephen won the seat subsequently.