Winning one election is easy. But winning 13 in a row? Easier said than done.
Well, one candidate actually achieved this extraordinary feat in the Kerala assembly polls.
However, he is not the longest-serving member of the Kerala assembly, even though he did not resign as MLA at any point. Another candidate who won 12 times in a row has spent more days as an MLA.
How could this be? And who are they?
In both cases, their tenure as an MLA for more than 50 years came to an end not through defeat at the hustings.
Only death could end their streak.
The man who won 13 successive times was KM Mani of the Kerala Congress and later Kerala Congress (M). His pocket borough was Pala from where he was elected on all 13 occasions.
Mani won for the first time in 1965 but unfortunately no party or alliance could get a majority in that election. So the assembly was dissolved before any of the victorious candidates could take the oath of office.
The state was under President's rule till 1967 when the next polls were held. Mani duly won again -- so technically his stint as an MLA began only then. And he kept on winning till he passed away in 2019.
Although he never became Chief Minister, he held numerous important ministerial posts including minister for home affairs and minister for finance and law.
He holds the record for most budgets presented in the Kerala Assembly at 13.
And he also holds the state record for the longest time spent as a minister -- 8759 days.
Now, we come to the man with the record for the longest time spent as an MLA, despite winning one fewer election than Mani.
Like Mani, he too won from the same constituency each time -- Puthupally. But unlike Mani, he did become Chief Minister.
Oommen Chandy's streak began in 1970 and lasted till his death in 2023. During his final term after winning the 2021 election, he surpassed Mani to become the longest-serving MLA.
The seat is still in the family as his son Chandy Oommen stood in the bypoll that followed and was elected.
If Chandy Oommen is to break his father's record, he would have to remain an MLA till 2076 when he would be 90.