'When Vajpayee tried to contest from Bhind LS seat in 1984'

BJP patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee had unsuccessfully tried to file his nomination from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh in 1984 and travelled in a car for the purpose, after Congress' Madhavrao Scindia had jumped into the fray from Gwalior at the last moment.

The former prime minister, who died at the AIIMS hospital in Delhi this evening at the age of 93, had represented Madhya Pradesh twice in the Lok Sabha--from his birth place Gwalior in 1971 and Vidisha in 1991.

Vajpayee had won the Gwalior Lok Sabha seat in 1971 as a Jan Sangh candidate.

However, he lost Gwalior to Madhavrao Scindia, the royal of the Scindia dynasty, of the Congress in 1984.

Recalling the events of 1984, veteran journalist Dr Rakesh Pathak said today that Vajpayee was surprised to find that Scindia had filed the nomination papers for the Gwalior seat on the last day of filing the nominations.

Pathak claimed that Scindia had jumped into the fray at the behest of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

He said Vajpayee then tried to file his nomination papers from neighbouring Bhind seat and travelled there in a car, but couldn't make it in time.

After his defeat in Gwalior at the hands of Scindia, Vajpayee contested from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh in 1991 and won both the seats, said senior journalist Rakesh Dixit.

However, he quit as Vidisha MP and retained Lucknow seat.

Vajpayee had won from Lucknow five times (including 1991-96).

Another scribe and social worker Dr Keshav Pandey said, "Vajpayee's father Krishna Bihari Vajpayee was working as a teacher at Gorkhi School".

He said Vajpayee had studied at Gorkhi School in Gwalior and graduated from Victoria College (now called as Maharani Laxmi Bai College).