Malda (WB), Apr 21: Hinting that it could be his last Lok Sabha election, veteran Congress leader Abul Barkat Ataul Gani Khan Choudhury today filed his nomination to seek re-election from the Malda seat in West Bengal.
The 69-year-old former Union Minister arrived in a huge procession at the office of District Magistrate Asok Kumar Bala and was flanked by the Congress MLAs of the district Abu Hasnat Khan Choudhury, Sabitri Mitra and Ruby Noor, also his sister. Khan Choudhury is pitted against CPI(M)'s Pranab Das and Badshah Alam of BJP. Gani Khan who has never lost an election since 1962 when he was first elected to the West Bengal assembly from Sujapur to be later returned to the Lok Sabha for seven consecutive terms since 1980, said at his residence "filing my nomination will be the final round for me. "If it is not rejected for any silly mistake, then I consider the battle won. I will only await the formal announcement of the result," Gani Khan who has been unwell for a long time and cannot walk without support said. Khan told his enthusiastic supporters that his sister, Ruby Noor, the MLA of Sujapur would look after the people of Malda henceforth.
Before proceeding to the Town Hall Gani Khan, reverently referred to the as 'the architect of Malda', sought blessings at the Peerana Peer, a holy spot for Muslims, and also at the Manaskamana Temple. During the 1999 parliamentary poll Khan Choudhury retained Malda defeating his nearesrt CPI(M) rival Sailen Sarkar by 24,553 votes. But his margin of victory decreased in 1999 from the 49082 votes he secured in 1998. Bureau Report