MP polls: A dozen septuagenarians to know fate on Tuesday

About a dozen leaders above the age of 70 years, including two cabinet ministers, will know their electoral fate when the counting of votes of the November 28 Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls is taken up on Tuesday.

Prominent among these are Health Minister Rustam Singh (73) from Morena and Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya (71) from his traditional Damoh constituency.

Other septuagenarians from the saffron fold include former minister Moti Kashyap (78) from Badwara, Rasal Singh (76) from Lahar, Nagendra Singh (76) from Gudh, former minister Nagendra Singh (76) from Nagod, Jugul Kishor Bagri (75) from Regaon, Shivbahadur Singh Chandel (70) from Sinhawal and Manvendra Singh (70) from Maharajpur.

The oldest Congress candidate is 78-year-old Sartaj Singh, who crossed over to the party after the BJP denied him a ticket from his traditional Seoni-Malwa seat.

Singh was the sitting BJP MLA when the ruling party snubbed him during ticket distribution.

He was fielded by the Congress from Hoshangabad seat.

Other candidates in the 70-plus age bracket for the Congress are Tamlal Sahare (71) from Katangi and former minister Narendra Nahta (72) from Mandsaur.

Nahta, who was the commerce and industry minister in the Congress government, said, "During the elections, a voter does not see the age of a candidate, but takes his experience and qualities into account".

Babulal Gaur (88), former MP, chief minister and senior BJP leader, had also expressed his desire to contest from his traditional Govindpura seat in Bhopal city.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, fielded his daughter-in-law Krishna Gaur (50), a former Bhopal mayor, from the seat.