In a major embarrassment to the ruling National Conference (NC), party president and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah on April 7 filed misleading information about his age in an affidavit before the returning officer in Srinagar.

In this affidavit, Abdullah claimed to be 77 years of age. In another affidavit filed in December 2008, however, when he was contesting the Assembly elections from the Hazratbal constituency, he mentioned that he was 66 years old.

According to the official Lok Sabha website, Abdullah was born in October 1937, which makes him 76 years old.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday demanded the cancellation of Abdullah’s candidature for submitting dubious information about his age to the Election Commission.
Shahnawaz Sultan, the chief polling agent of the AAP, in a complaint to EC said that Abdullah declared his age as 66 years in the affidavit filed during the 2008 Assembly elections in the state.

“But he has mentioned his age as 77 years in an affidavit submitted along with his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections on April 7 this year. It is requested that his candidature be cancelled for filing a misleading affidavit,” AAP demanded in its complaint.
Abdullah, father of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, is the candidate of the NC-Congress alliance from the constituency.