They come, they contest and they lose, more often than not. Independent candidates in election are a tribe who seem undeterred by the heft of their counterparts fielded by political parties. They are not so much worried about winning, but just keen to participate in the biggest festival of democracy, the elections.While candidates from political parties are awaiting auspicious days to file nominations, independent candidates rushed to file their papers to enter the fray across the state.On day one, two independent candidates filed their nominations for Coimbatore and Pollachi parliamentary constituencies. One of them, A Noor Mohamed, 59, has come to be known as a veteran independent candidate who has contested in 29 elections – Lok Sabha, assembly and local body polls, only to get meagre votes. The second-hand car dealer hopes that one day he would win.If publicity is what Noor Mohamed wanted, he received enough of it even before filing nominations. A resident of Sundarapuram, he came to the district collectorate pulling a bullock cart. Mohamed is not new to such theatrics. In the past, he had come galloping in a horse to the collectorate. “I have even contested against late chief minister J Jayalalithaa in R K Nagar by elections,” Mohamed proudly proclaims. The votes he got there doesn’t matter much, the man says.However, Mohamed has to go a long way to beat the record of 'Election King’ K Padmarajan, another independent who filed his 200th nomination in Dharmapuri constituency on Tuesday.K Padmarajan, who hails from Mettur in Salem district, is always among the first to file nominations. Padmarajan wants to set a Guinness record under ‘most unsuccessful candidate and most number of elections contested’ category. “My goal is to create awareness among public that anyone can contest in any election," he said.While many independents get into election fray seeking the limelight, some like L Kathiresan jump into poll bandwagon to prove a political point. A functionary of Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement, Kathiresan is contesting as independent in Tirupur as he is upset with the political parties for not revoking ban on toddy tapping.In Madurai and adjoining districts too four independents filed nominations on day one. The independents don’t get bogged down by money and muscle power of political parties. They don’t stick posters or even do extensive campaigning. “But we want to send out a message to political parties. If they don’t serve public well, we are there for people to fall back on,’’ said D Vasanthakumar , a farmer from Kalapatti who filed his nomination in Coimbatore.

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