Chandigarh: Punjab`s Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur, who is seeking re-election from Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district as SAD candidate, is at the age of 72 the oldest candidate among 93 women contesting the January 30 assembly polls.
Kaur is contesting the polls from traditional Akali bastion and is eyeing a win for the fourth time. She has won consecutively on previous three occasions, and in 2007 assembly polls, she had defeated her nearest Congress rival Navtej Singh Cheema by a margin of 11,405 votes.
In fact, Kaur is the only one among the women contestants who is in her 70s.
The youngest woman candidate in fray is Prabhjot Kaur (25), who is contesting as Independent from Jaitu (SC) seat in Faridkot district, the constituency which also has a maximum four women candidates. The average age of women testing their luck in the polls is around 45 years.
Most of the prominent women in contest are either in their 50s or 60s.
They include former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (66), Congress` Karan Kaur Brar (60), who is daughter-in-law of former Chief Minister late Harcharan Singh Brar, Gurdaspur MP Pratap Singh Bajwa`s wife Charanjeet Kaur Bajwa (52), Jalandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee`s wife Suman Kaypee (55) and former State Congress President Shamsher Singh Dullo`s wife Harbans Kaur Dullo (58).
Prominent women from other parties include SAD`s Kuldeep Kaur Tohra (58), kin of late Akali veteran Gurcharan Singh Tohra, CPI`s Lovleen Kaur Chahal (56), SAD candidate and former SGPC President, Bibi Jagir Kaur (58), BJP`s Navjot Kaur Sidhu (48), wife of BJP MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu and BJP`s Vijay Lakshami Bhadoo (61), relative of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Out of a total of 1080 candidates in the fray for the 117 assembly seats, Congress has fielded a maximum 11 women followed by SAD`s 10 and BJP`s three. PTl