NEW DELHI: BJP founder and three-time prime minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee began his political career as a freedom fighter. He later joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) - a right-wing political party led by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and became its national secretary in-charge of the Northern region.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

He rose within the ranks to become the national president of the Jana Sangh in 1968. Supported by his colleagues Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok and LK Advani, Vajpayee took the Jana Sangh to greater glory.


Vajpayee contested the Lok Sabha polls as BJS candidate and was first elected to the Lower House in 1957 from Balrampur. Vajpayee had contested the Lok Sabha polls from three constituencies - Balrampur, Mathura and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.


He won from Balrampur, finished runner-up in Lucknow and forfeited his deposit in Mathura. 


Since then, he was a regular in elections and set records which are difficult to beat even today. He was the only political leader to win from six Lok Sabha constituencies from four states.


He was elected to the Lok Sabha 10 times and the last time he fought and won was from Lucknow in the 2004 election. The former Prime Minister represented the city five times in Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1999.


On two occasions, he won from two different seats in two different states. 


In 1991, he won from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.


In 1996, he won from Gandhinagar in Gujarat and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.


Despite his colossal status in the national politics, Vajpayee also faced defeat at the hands of former Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia in the 1984 General Elections from the Gwalior Lok Sabha constituency.