For 13 parliamentary constituencies in Punjab, “senior citizens” of different national political parties between the age group of 50 and 80 years are flexing their muscles to take part in general elections 2014, for which polls are to take place on April 30.
The candidates who have crossed their 70s or nearing 80s include 79-year-old Aam Aadmi Party candidate Dr Daljit Singh from Amritsar lok Sabha constituency, 76 years old SAD-BJP combine candidate Ranjit Singh Brahmpura from Khadoor Sahib constituency, 75 years old SAD-BJP combine candidate Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa from Sangrur, 72 years old Congress candidate Capt Amarinder Singh from Amritsar, 71 years old Congress candidate Ambika Soni from Sri Anandpur Sahib.
Besides, the candidates who are under the age of more than 60 years are 69-year-old Congress candidate Preneet Kaur from Patiala, 68-year-old BJP’s candidate Vinod Khanna from Gurdaspur, and SAD (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann from Khadoor Sahib, 67 years old Congress candidate Choudhary Santokh Singh from Jalandhar, 64 years old SAD’s Prem Singh Chandumajra from Sri Anandpur Sahib, 65 years old AAP’s Sucha Singh Chhotepur from Gurdaspur and SAD’s Paramjit Kaur Gulshan from Faridkot respectively and 61 years old BJP’s Arun Jaitley from Amritsar parliamentary constituency are in the fray.
The candidates who have crossed the half-century mark are Congress candidate 60-year-old Sunil Jakhar from Ferozepur, Partap Singh Bajwa (57) from Gurdaspur, Mohinder Singh KP (57) from Hoshiarpur, Joginder Singh Panjgrain (55) from Faridkot, Congress People’s Party of Punjab alliance candidate Manpreet Singh Badal (52) from Bathinda, AAP’s HS Phoolka (58) from ludhiana, BJP’s Vijay Sampla (52) from Hoshiarpur, Congress’s Sadhu Singh Dharamsot (54) from Fatehgarh Sahib and SAD’s Kulwant Singh (52) from Sri Fatehgarh Sahib constituencies.
However, the candidate between the age group of 40 to 50 are: 47-year-old Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD) from Bathinda, 47-year-old Pawan Kumar Tinu (SAD) from Jalandhar, 44-year-old Independent candidate Simranjit Singh Bains from ludhiana, 43-year-old KS Makan (BSP) from Sri Anandpur Sahib, 42 years old Congress candidate from Sangrur Vijay Inder Singla.
Now it’s up to the voters, especially the young ones who have been included in the electoral process first time, to decide in favour of whom they would exercise their franchise : whether to stick to the adage “old is gold” or experiment with the youth power.