Nagarmal Bajoria ‘Dhartipakad’
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A brief biography
Kumar Rajeshtnn, Sep 4, 2026: The Times of India
Bhagalpur: He lost 281 elections — from municipal to presidential — but never the spirit for a contest in the electoral battleground. Nagarmal Bajoria, a maverick social worker and indefatigable election contestant from Bhagalpur in Bihar, was popularly known as Dhartipakad.
Bajoria contested 281 polls and never won one. He remained unfazed, though, and often said, “I do not lose elections, but people always do.”
Born in Lahore in undivided India, Bajoria migrated to Bhagalpur in 1930s and established a business in city’s main market. His electoral journey took him from civic polls to MP elections in Patna and Delhi. He contested against many political stalwarts, including Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, A B Vajpayee and L K Advani.
His first electoral contest was against then presidential candidate V V Giri in 1969. He later filed nominations for posts of President and VP 18 times, with his last poll participation coming in 2019.
Bajoria devoted himself to social work, from arranging mass marriages for poor girls to promoting simple, dowryless weddings and helping install tubewells at places where drinking water was needed.
For him, elections were less about becoming a parliamentarian or an MLA and more about drawing attention to social and national issues and encouraging voters to choose the best candidate.
“Though electoral victory eluded him, his constant participation in the democratic process, courage to challenge the system and never-say-die attitude will live long in the memories of the people of Bhagalpur,” his grandson Gourav Bajoria said.
