By the time photographer P. Mustafa and I reached Nirman Bhavan in New Delhi on May 20, 1991, Congress candidate Rajesh Khanna was standing there, tense but trying to smile. We had learnt from the All India Congress Committee office the previous day that Rajiv Gandhi would be arriving there early morning to cast his vote, and would proceed thereafter to resume his campaign in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
I had already covered Khanna's campaign in Delhi, and also accompanied Rajiv through his party workers' meetings in Amethi a few weeks earlier. Rajiv had been relaxed through that trip, like a gentleman visiting his country estate, and was driving his Gypsy most of the time with Sonia beside him. I had crawled into the vehicle on one stretch, and even managed an interview in which he had sounded confident of winning the election.
I had even teasingly asked him, during the Amethi drive, about the inscription on his keychain which read: “If you don't like the way I drive, step off the sidewalk.” He had told me it was a gift from someone very dear.
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Now, Rajiv Gandhi arrived at Nirman Bhavan around 7.30, wearing a white cotton kurta-pyjama, and accompanied by Sonia and Priyanka. In that mob of photographers and party workers, there was no way I could try and renew my “acquaintance”.
Khanna received them outside the building, and as the photographers mobbed them I moved a few steps back. A party worker brought an arti tray from somewhere, and as he attempted to put a vermillion dot on Rajiv's forehead the tray dropped from the worker's hand. Sonia looked upset but quickly regained her composure, and they all proceeded to the polling booth.
As Rajiv folded his ballot paper and was putting it into the box, photographers, in their anxiety not to miss the moment, began calling out, “Sir... sir... Rajiv ji..., hold it..., one moment..., sir..., look this way..., sir….”
Amused, Rajiv broke into a smile and told them a basic truism about electoral democracy: “Look, I have only one vote.” As everyone burst out laughing, he cast his vote.
Within minutes the whole party moved out and drove away, and we to other polling booths to capture other VIPs casting their vote. We heard that he was driving straight to the airport.
The next evening, I heard the news that shocked not only me, but the entire country.