Lok Sabha elections: Delhi candidate Ramanujan Patel has Rs 100 only

With only Rs 100 to his name, Ramanujan Patel is perhaps the poorest candidate

In fray from New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. He is a post-graduate and journalist by profession. Currently he is unemployed and works for a political party which has fielded over 100 candidates nation-wide.

Patel, 37, will take on Ajay Maken of the Congress, AAP's Ashish Khaitan and Meenakshi Lekhi of the BJP.

His clothes too — an oversized white kurta pyjama and white sports shoes support his story of poverty. "I never had a bank account, but I had to open one to contest elections. The Election Commission categorically stated that my bank details are required for nomination,'' Patel said.

Patel required Rs1,000 to open an account with State Bank of India. He borrowed money because he had only Rs100. "And that's why I wrote that I have only Rs100 in my affidavit,'' Patel said while taking out a list of 16 people who pooled Rs25000, the security deposit, for him to contest the election.

Representing the Samyak Parivartan Party, Patel operates from a two-room office-cum-residence located inside the congested lanes of Shakarpur in East Delhi.