Patna: While people age with every passing year, Bihar politicians have made us believe otherwise. The election affidavits filed by several candidates before the Election Commission show they are getting younger by the day!
Congress lawmaker and candidate from Kutumba seat in Bihar’s Aurangabad district Rajesh Kumar had mentioned his date of birth as January 1967 in the election affidavit filed during the 2015 assembly elections. On the basis of these details, his age should have been 53 years but this year, he has mentioned his age as 51 in the poll affidavit.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) lawmaker and candidate from Barhara seat in Bhojpur district, Saroj Yadav had mentioned his age as 33 years while submitting election affidavits before the Election Commission in 2015. This time, however, he has mentioned his age as 30 years.
The case of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Katoria seat in Banka district Nikki Hembram is even more interesting. Her poll affidavit says she has not aged a bit in the past five years. In the poll affidavit filed in 2015, she had mentioned her age as 42 and this year too, she has mentioned the same age in the election affidavit.
Opposite case
However, it’s totally opposite in case of other politicians, majority of them from the ruling BJP and the Janata Dal United (JD-U) which are the coalition partners in the ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar.
The first name that deserves mention here is that of Bihar’s Science and Technology minister Jai Kumar Singh who again has been fielded by the JD-U from Dinara seat in Rohtas district. Singh had mentioned his age as 46 in his poll affidavit filed during the 2015 assembly polls. Given this information, his age should have been 51 but he had mentioned his age as 56 in his poll affidavit filed this year. That means the minister’s age increased by 10 years in the past five years!
Another JD-U candidate Ramanad Mandal’s age has grown by eight years in the past five years. In 2015, Mandal had mentioned his age as 47 but this time, he describes himself as 55. He has been fielded from Surajgarha seat in Lakhisarai district.
Again, BJP candidate Gyanendra Kumar Singh’s age too has “doubled” in the past five years. In 2015, he had mentioned himself as 51 but in the poll affidavits filed this year, he mentions his age as 61.
BJP minister for Mines and Geology Brij Kishore Bind’s age too has increased by seven years in the past five years. In 2015, Bind had mentioned his date of birth as January 1966. On this basis, his age should have been 54 years but he had described himself as 61-year-old in the poll affidavits.
