'Vajpayee chose Lucknow after shock Gwalior defeat in 1984'

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had represented Madhya Pradesh twice in the Lok Sabha--from his birthplace Gwalior in 1971 and Vidisha in 1991.

However, after his defeat in Gwalior in 1984, Vajpayee chose Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh over Vidisha, which he had won in 1991 Lok Sabha polls.

Vajpayee died at the AIIMS hospital in Delhi on Thursday evening at the age of 93 following a prolonged illness.

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"Vajpayee's father Krishna Bihari Vajpayee was working as a teacher at Gorkhi School," recalled veteran journalist and social worker Dr Keshav Pandey.

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

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.

Another veteran journalist Dr Rakesh Pathak said Vajpayee was surprised to find that Scindia too had filed the nomination papers for the seat on the last day of filing the nominations.

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Pathak claimed that Scindia had filed the nomination papers 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 the defeat, Vajpayee chose to contest Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha in MP and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh in 1991 and won both the seats.

However, he quit as Vidisha MP and retained Lucknow seat, which he won five times (including 1991-96), said senior journalist Rakesh Dixit.