Oldest at 94, Badal files nomination for Punjab polls
Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 Jan, 2022 11:45 AM
Chandigarh, Jan 31 (IANS) Five-time Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal on Monday filed his nomination for the upcoming assembly elections from Lambi constituency in Punjab's Muktsar district.
He is the oldest candidate at 94 for the February 20 polls to the 117-member legislative Assembly.
A five-time MLA from the Lambi constituency, the elderly Badal was the president of the SAD from 1995 to 2008.
Badal had won the 2017 Assembly elections from this seat by defeating Capt Amarinder Singh with 22,770 votes.
The Akali patriarch had started contesting from Lambi in 1997 and won the seat by 28,728 votes, by 23,929 votes in 2002, by 9,187 votes in 2007.
In 2012, he defeated his nearest rival by 24,739 votes.
Appearing for the Punjab government, Senior Advocate P. Chidambaram argued that Majithia has gone into hiding after the rejection of his bail plea in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and now he is appearing through counsel.
Interestingly, the move comes a week after neighbouring Madhya Pradesh permitted liquor sales at all its airports, select supermarkets in four major cities and also allowed issuing home bar licences to those earning Rs 1 crore or more annually.
The incident took place on Wednesday and the accused are said to be illicit liquor sellers in the area. It has been alleged that the woman was also gang-raped. A video of the incident showed the woman being attacked.
Both Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu have urged Rahul Gandhi to announce a CM face well ahead of the polls, instead of going with the collective leadership.
The ministry of external affairs organised the summit virtually on Thursday which was attended by the heads of all five Central Asian countries -- Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan.
Harcharan Bains, Principal Advisor to SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal, shared documents pertaining to the reported abuse of the state intelligence wing by a private company, Movedek Politico. Bains said there are credible reports that the highest-ranked police officers of the state were asked to collaborate with the private company in intelligence gathering.
