Seeking a record 8th victory from Dwarka, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Pabubha Manek appears undeterred by his opponents, though he has been winning the Assembly polls by slender margins. If there is any concern, it too shall pass, he says, predicting that his challenger from the Congress, Mulu Kandoriya, would be campaigning for him in the next election, as all other contestants of the past have done so far.

Kandoriya is taking on Manek for the second time. The first encounter ended in a narrow defeat in 2012—by 5,616 votes. What gives his opponents some hope is that Manek didn’t improve upon the winning margin in 2017—he won by 5,739 votes, though he has remained undefeated since 1990 from Devbhumi Dwarka, which is believed to have been built by Lord Krishna and is one of the Char Dhams.