UP Election Results: Meet Louise Khurshid, the big loser

Her declared assets include 97 lakhs in mutual funds, a Maruti Jeep, a Scorpio, jewellery like a neclas breslet (sic) worth 93,000 rupees and 3 chen gold (sic) worth 57,000 rupees. But Farrukhabad’s high profile INC candidate Louise Khurshid’s biggest asset is husband Salman Khurshid, Law Minister and Minister for Minority Affairs. It does not look like it’s going to be enough to save Madam Khurshid from being drubbed in the UP polls. She is trailing in third place in Farrukhabad. “Little did I know I’d land here when I married Salman in ’84,” Louise told Outlook. Farrukhabad is a bit of a backwater, for Louise, a bureaucrat’s daughter who has a journalism degree from the US. Salman’s pedigree is Delhi elite – Delhi Public School, St. Stephen’s, Oxford and Lincoln’s Inn. Politics, she said “repelled” her in her younger days. Farrukhabad results show the feeling might just be mutual. Farrukhabad is called the “traditional family seat” though Salman has only won once from there. Her campaign slogan was pretty much “You elected Salman, now choose me.” [caption id=“attachment_235509” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Louise Khurshid is losing big. PTI”]  [/caption] Salman Khurshid who has been UPCC chief twice knew this would be a tough fight. But his efforts to help only landed Louise bhabi in hot water. His comments about a sub-quota for Muslims provoked censure from the Electoral Commission. His wife said he come there just as a “star campaigner” not as a minister. He had to withdraw his “Sonia wept” comments about the Batla House encounter. Louise Khurshid also did her best to woo the 20 percent Muslim electorate. “I have embraced Islam. I am an ail-e-kitaab (I swear by the Quran). My wedding was a traditional nikaah,” she told NDTV. But her campaign, despite her crisp white kurtas and tri-colour dupattas, struggled to be in the news for the right reasons. She was pelted with stones following a dispute over entry of voters at a polling booth. She blamed that on the BJP. She has also been booked for allegedly violating the code of conduct for not taking prior permission to conduct road shows of Bollywood actors Sanjay Dutt and Raj Babbar. Khurshid has tried to stay upbeat. “I must say all the local scribes love me,” Louise told Outlook. Now if she could only say the same about the local voters. As a local doctor Zubair Ahmed told NDTV, “Whatever Salman has sowed, his wife Louise will reap the losses. He has done nothing in the past two years. Why should we vote for his wife?” The question is what will Louise’s electoral debacle mean for Salman Khurshid’s political future?