Parkash Singh Badal gets older by 8 years in five!

His paltry assets worth Rs6.75 crore notwithstanding, it is chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s age that has raked up controversy in Punjab.

While filing his nomination papers for the Lambi constituency, Badal submitted an affidavit last week, saying his age was 84.

However, in his affidavit in the 2007 assembly elections he had recorded 76 as his age making the observers wonder if he had grown older by eight years in the last five years.

The official website of the Akali Dal records lists December 8, 1927 as his birthday, which makes him 84.

Chief electoral officer Kusumjit Sidhu though dismissed it as a non-issue, saying that as long a candidate fulfiled the basic age limit of 25 years for election purposes, it did not matter what would be the upper age.

Taking a dig at Badal, PCC president and former chief minister Amarinder Singh said on Friday what kind of administration Badal would provide to the state if he was not even sure of his age. He said Badal enjoyed keeping people confused about his age. “In 2002 he had told the Assembly that he was 80 years old. By that yardstick he should be above 90 now, said Amarinder.

Special chief electoral officer Usha Sharma said the EC would go by the affidavit submitted by a candidate and had no provision to verify its veracity.

The chief minister had declared that he had Rs4.3 lakh as cash, besides bank deposits and jewellery. His son deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal, who is contesting from the Jalalabad seat, had earlier declared that he had assets worth Rs76 crore.