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.
Calling the reports of alleged snooping on prominent citizens using Israeli Pegasus spyware as "baseless", the ruling BJP on Monday said there is not a single shred of evidence so far that links either the central government or the party to this controversy.
Congress MPs from both Houses had met on Sunday afternoon at Rajya Sabha member Pratap Singh Bajwa's residence to discuss the issues related to Punjab and sought an appointment with Gandhi.
Apart from reviewing the security arrangements in the national capital, the Delhi Police have also strengthened the security in and around the Red Fort ahead of the Independence Day.
Police said acting on a specific information, Budgam Police along with the Army's 53 RR and 43 BN of the CRPF arrested one local terrorist linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT and recovered incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one Chinese pistol, one magazine, eight live pistol rounds from his possession.
As the Pegasus spyware scandal unravelled within and outside Parliament, he termed it a "shocking assault" on India's democratic polity by the Union government, which had compromised the national security with "this blatantly disgraceful act".
The shocking incident happened on Sunday when the lawyer, Satyadev Joshi and his associate Ankit Tandon had gone to survey a land for a client in Dahisar suburb.
