A Ganesh Nadar and photographer Uday Kuckian meet a former-hockey-star-turned-Congress-candidate in Sagar in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.Aslam Sher Khan was a member of the Indian hockey team that won the World Cup in 1975. He was also a member of the bronze medal-winning Indian teams in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics.
He entered politics in 1984 as a Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha election from Betul. His political fortunes have been mixed so far -- he has won elections twice and lost twice.
In the 2004 election, he contested from Bhopal on a Nationalist Congress Party ticket, but lost.
Khan has now returned to the Congress fold, and will contest the election from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. Not only does the constituency have a sizeable Muslim population, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Bhupendra Singh has lost two assembly elections in this area. "This will be his hat-trick," claim Congress workers.
"The Bahujan Samaj Party candidate will get some votes, but he doesn't have any chances of winning. It's a straight fight between the BJP and Congress," says Bhole Raja, a member of the local Congress unit.
Image: Aslam Sher Khan.
Also see: The lady who will surprise Sharad Pawar! | India Votes 2009
Advertisement