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Not just Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab polls will also have this 80-year-old candidate
Punjab assembly election 2022: Om Parkash Jakhu, a cobbler, will fight his 20th election, contesting from Hoshiarpur for the ‘Bharatrashtra Democratic Party.'
At 94, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch and former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal will contest the single-phase Punjab assembly elections, due to be held on February 20. This will make Badal India's oldest person to contest an election.
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However, it turns out that the veteran politician is not the only candidate aged 80 or above for the upcoming polls in the border state. 80-year-old Om Parkash Jakhu, a cobbler by profession, will contest his 20th election, from Hoshiarpur, for ‘Bharatrashtra Democratic Party.’
“For half of my life, I've been contesting elections, most of which were for the MLA post. My wife Bhajan Kaur and our children support my decision to contest polls,” Jakhu, who, however, is yet to win his first election, told news agency PTI.
Besides contesting to be elected as an MLA, the octogenarian said he has stood for posts in municipal corporations from various segments in the Hoshiarpur district, such as Shamchaurasi, Chabewal and Garhdiwala.
Jakhu also claimed he was a close aide of the late Kanshi Ram, the Bahujan Smamaj Party (BSP) founder, adding that he has been a candidate of the party, which is now headed by former UP chief minister Mayawati, a Kanshi Ram protege.
Interestingly, the BSP has tied up with the Shiromani Akali Dal for the Punjab assembly elections. Parkash Singh Badal's son Sukhbir, a former Punjab deputy CM, is the national president of the Akalis.
Jakhu, meanwhile, will be up against the ruling Congress' incumbent Hoshiarpur MLA Sunder Sham Arora, Tikshan Sud of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bram Shanker of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). In 2017, as an independent, he finished eighth from the constituency, securing just 278 votes.
The counting of votes for all 117 assembly constituencies in Punjab will be held on March 10.
(With agency inputs)
