The depressing results of the previous polls in Dakshina Kannada parliamentary constituency has no bearing on them.
The fact that the constituency has been witnessing a straight contest between the BJP and the Congress, since the 1984 elections, does not worry them.
For this time too, as many as eight independents have tossed their hats into the ring, unmindful of the fact that all seven independents in the 2009 elections forfeited their deposits.
Despite sweating it out, the percentage of votes polled by independent candidates in the precious Lok Sabha elections, including Subrahmanya Kumar Kuntikammutt (0.88 per cent), K Ramabhat Urimajalu (0.59 per cent), U P Shivananda (0.47 per cent), Vasudeva Gowda MP (0.31 per cent), Anand Gatty (0.24 per cent), Mohammed Sali (0.19 per cent) and Thirumalaraya Halemane (0.18 per cent), was below one per cent.
Since the start of the elections from 1957 to the previous general elections in 2009, 37 independents had taken a plunge, dreaming of making it to the Lok Sabha. They not only failed in realising their dreams but also lost their deposits. They collectively pooled 76,406 votes.
As many as four general elections held in the constituency in 1962, 1977, 1999 and 2004 witnessed not a single candidate file nomination as an independent.
The general elections in 1996 set a record of sorts, with as many as nine candidates in the fray.
According to data from the Election Commission, independents also fared badly at both in the state and nationally in the 15th general elections held in 2009.
In Karnataka, 260 independents, including 10 women polled 10,12,448 votes (4.12 per cent) and forfeited their deposits. In the country, 99.75 per cent of the total 3,691 independent candidates, including 200 women, had lost in the 2009 LS elections. Only nine among them won. The 2004 LS elections also did not augur well for independent candidates, as 99.8 per cent of the total 2,385 contestants lost the elections.
Independents or ‘spoilers' as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described them famously are not vying for fame. "Driven by some passion, we take a shot at the Lok Sabha elections," said independent candidate Sudatta Jain.
Jain, contesting under the symbol of a slipper, says his fight against corruption compelled him to get involved in the elections. "Though the odds are stacked against me, I enjoy a sense of fulfillment on using this opportunity to the hilt and creating awareness among voters on how all national political parties are in the grip of capitalists," he said.