RATLAM, Nov 18 : The Madhya Pradesh assembly polls may have concluded but elements tied to it continue to amuse citizens, particularly those on social media.
A video of the Congress candidate from Ratlam, Paras Saklecha, gladly taking slipper slaps doled out by a fakir is being widely shared on the internet.
Saklecha, who lost the elections in 2013 and 2018, visited the fakir on Thursday with a pair of new slippers to seek his blessing.
Saklecha could not be reached despite multiple attempts.
The video shows the fakir, who lives at a dargah on Mhow road, hitting the former legislator on the head and then cheeks.
As the elderly ascetic, affectionately called by locals as ‘Abba’, continues hitting Saklecha, the Congress leader requests him to stop saying “bas, bas, ho gaya (that is enough)”, as per the video.
Many people visit the fakir, who smacks them with footwear, with the belief that it would bring good omen for them. While they offer him lungis and footwear, the ascetic accepts them from a few and throws away the rest.
After receiving blows, Saklecha was heard saying, “The fakir baba has warded off evil shadows if any upon me.”
The Congress nominee has been pitted against BJP’s Chetan Kashyap.
Saklecha won the Ratlam assembly constituency as an independent candidate in 2008, defeating the then home minister Himmat Kothari. However, he lost to Kashyap in the 2013 and 2018 polls.
While attempts to contact Saklecha and Kashyap did not succeed, their acquaintances said they might be resting after a hectic campaigning.
Assembly elections were held in Madhya Pradesh on Friday with a voter turnout of 76.22 per cent, the highest in the state’s history. Votes will be counted on December 3. (PTI)
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