With the BJP appearing to be in a dilemma over fielding her, outgoing Lok Sabha Speaker and eight-time MP from Indore, Sumitra Mahajan on Friday, 5 April, said she would not contest the ensuing general elections and has freed her party from making its choice.
“There were speculations and so I decided to end them and free the party to make its choice. I will not contest Lok Sabha elections,” she told PTI from Indore.
The eight-time MP, who turns 76 on 12 April, said there had been speculations whether the party will field someone who has crossed the 75-year age bar. Advani (91) and Murli Manohar Joshi (85) were also denied tickets by the BJP their Lok Sabha seats, Gandhinagar and Kanpur, respectively.
Though he had not named Mahajan, the outgoing Lok Sabha speaker too falls in the same age bracket, reported PTI.
Mahajan issued a short press statement questioning the party’s delay in naming a candidate from Indore.
“Possibly, the party is hesitating to take a decision. I had discussed this issue with senior party leaders and left it to them to take an appropriate decision,” she said, adding, “it seems they still have some doubts in their mind. So I declare that I do not wish to contest the Lok Sabha elections.”
Mahajan, however, maintained that she would continue working for the party and campaign for it.
Mahajan was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Indore in 1989 and has won all the seven consecutive elections. She was a minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, holding portfolios of human resources and development, telecom and petroleum between 1999 and 2004.
When the BJP swept to power again in 2014, she was named Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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