Punjab polls: At 94, Parkash Singh Badal oldest politician to contest election in India

Except once by 57 votes, Badal in his over six decades of political career has never lost an election

At 94 years of age, five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal who filed his nomination on Monday from Lambi constituency in Punjab became the oldest politician contesting an election of any type in the country. Former Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan contested the assembly election in 2016 as the oldest candidate in poll fray at the age of 92 years.

But for one election which he lost by 57 votes, Badal in his over six decades of political career, has never lost an election. He consecutively won the last 10 elections he contested.
Parkash Singh Badal was recently admitted to the hospital and successfully recovered from the pandemic virus. Badal, an early riser, has already hit the poll campaign and covers dozens of villages meeting people on a daily basis. He says he has a physiotherapist at home who helps him stay fit.

In an earlier election, Badal fractured his leg after falling in the washroom. However, the SAD patriarch was unstoppable. The party provided him a hydraulic seat in a bus which took him around the entire state for canvassing. In two decades from 1997 to 2017, Badal has remained CM of Punjab for 15 years. He was also the youngest CM of Punjab way back in 1970 when he was 42-years old.

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SAD top leadership is marred with the blemish of alleged sacrilege and drug trade, which is why the party is putting its best foot forward on every seat. The century-old grand party witnessed its worst performance in the last assembly polls in 2017 when it was reduced to just 15 seats in the assembly of 117 MLAs. The SAD then even lost its tag as the principal opposition party as the then greenhorn AAP managed 20 assembly seats foraying into Punjab’s political landscape.

This election will be decisive for the Akali Dal now being led by the junior Badal Sukhbir Singh. Badals junior too filed his nomination today from Jalalabad constituency. The SAD still heavily banks upon the senior Badal whose appeal among the masses remains intact.
Badal fought his first five elections from 1969 to 1985 from the Gidderbaha assembly constituency and the next five from 1997 to 2017 from the Lambi assembly constituency, winning all ten.

He also won his first election from the Malout assembly segment in undivided Punjab in 1957. Badal has also served as a Union minister. His daughter in law was a union minister in Modi’s cabinet before she quit over the three controversial farm laws.

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