NEW DELHI: Five-time former Punjab Chief Minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Parkash Singh Badal will become the oldest candidate to contest any type of election in the country as he filed his nomination papers for the upcoming assembly polls in the state on Monday.
At the age of 94, Badal will contest the Punjab Assembly polls from his home turf Lambi.
Breaking the age bar, before the SAD patron, former Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan had contested the Assembly election as the oldest candidate in 2016 at the age of 92 years.
Badal, who still makes political appearances, was the youngest sarpanch when he got elected from Badal village of Punjab in 1947. He also became the youngest Chief Minister in 1970 at the age of 43 years. Later, he became the oldest Chief Minister in 2012. Badal has held the Chief Ministerial position in Punjab five times from 1970-71, 1977-80, 1997-2002, 2007-12 and 2012-17.
He was the president of SAD from 1995 to 2008 and has also been a member of Lok Sabha once.
Meanwhile, Punjab will go to the polls on February 20. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The SAD could manage to win only 15 seats while the BJP secured three seats. (ANI)
