Bangalore: Congress MLA and former Karnataka minister Satish Jarkiholi is gearing up to launch his campaign for the Assembly elections from a graveyard and file his nomination papers during an “inauspicious” period as part of his drive against superstitious beliefs.

The three-time MLA from Yemkanmardi (reserved for Scheduled Tribes) in Belgaum district will also launch from the graveyard the two vehicles he will use for road shows.

Known for being a rationalist, Jarkiholi had filed his nomination papers during “Rahu Kala” — a supposedly inauspicious time according to astrology — in 2018 and plans to repeat the act this time.

Jarkiholi is known for his overnight stays at graveyards on December 6 every year to mark the death anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar.

Jarkiholi, who runs the Manava Bandutva Vedike (human relationship forum), has been a staunch proponent of progressive thoughts.

He justified his decision to launch the campaign from a graveyard, saying: “It is just blind belief and illusion.” Jarkiholi said he had been filing nomination during Rahu Kala for the past three decades.

His acts are in contrast to what most of his party colleagues do before embarking on an election campaign, filing nomination papers or taking their oath of office. Such events are carefully planned to fit in the “auspicious” time that most people follow.

But the Congress has never come in the way of Jarkiholi’s unusual ways to bust superstitious practices and thoughts.

The president of the Indian Rationalists Association, Narendra Nayak, lauded Satish Jarkiholi for his continued initiatives to disprove superstitious beliefs. Nayak, a medical biochemist who taught at the Kasturba Medical College in Mangalore for over three decades, said a graveyard was just another place.

“For people like us, it doesn’t matter whether a campaign is launched from a graveyard or not. But such initiatives go a long way in educating those who might fall for such beliefs and they need to be taught that the graveyard is just another place and there is nothing auspicious or inauspicious about starting a campaign from there,” Nayak told The Telegraph.