National Conference president and Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah’s age increased by 11 years from the time of the December 2008 State Assembly polls!
While Farooq Abdullah declared his age to be 66 in the election affidavit filed a little over five-years-ago, the latest affidavit filed by him before the Returning Officer in Srinagar, on April 7 mentioned his age as 77 years.
However, this “minor error” has not stopped the veteran leader from fighting elections and Abdullah’s nomination papers were cleared by the election authorities on Thursday after they rejected a complaint by AAP accusing him of submitting incorrect information.
“Abdullah had in the 2008 Assembly polls mentioned his age as 66 in the nomination papers and now, just a little over five years later he has put it at 77,” Shahnawaz Sultan said in his complaint on behalf of AAP candidate Raja Muzaffar Bhat.
The returning officer for the constituency Farooq Ahmad Shah held that the nomination papers of Abdullah were in order and rejected the complaint.Reacting to the controversy, the National Conference (NC) chief said that in December 2008 his age was mentioned as 66 in the State electoral roll.
“It was a clerical mistake which was cleared immediately after the polls. So as per the new electoral roll my correct age has been mentioned,” Abdullah told a news agency.Abdullah, who is a candidate of the NC-Congress alliance, sought to play down the controversy by saying: “Please do not fish where there are no rivers.” Election for the Srinagar seat is set to be a direct contest between Abdullah and the State’s main Opposition PDP candidate Tariq Karra.