15th Lok Sabha to miss many ‘golden oldies’

Former Union Minister George Fernandes and Congress leader Giridhar Gamang,both nine time MPs,are contesting the Lok Sabha polls again.

Fernandes is contesting as an Independent from Muzaffarpur in Bihar while the former Orissa Chief Minister is Congress candidate from Koraput seat.

In the outgoing 14th Lok Sabha,there were 11 MPs who were elected eight times and except late former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar,late Union Minister A B A Ghani Khan Choudhury and former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma,all are trying their luck.

Prominent among those who are contesting the polls include Basudeb Acharia,Hannan Mollah (both CPI-M) and Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP).

There were seven MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha who were elected seven times and among them Santosh Mohan Dev,Kamal Nath (both Cong),Satyanarayan Jatiya (BJP) and Rupchand Pal (CPI-M) are in the fray.

Among the 18 MPs who were elected to the lower House for the sixth time,at least ten are trying their luck. They are Mamata Banerjee (TC),P Chidambaram,Vilas Muttemwar (both Cong),Santosh Kumar Gangwar,Sumitra Mahajan,Harin Pathak (all BJP),Sharad Pawar (NCP),Shibu Soren (JMM),Bajuban Riyan and Tarit Baran Topdar (CPI-M).

There were 30 five-time MPs in the outgoing Lok Sabha and most of them are in the fray seeking re-election from their respective constituencies.

They include L K Advani,Maneka Gandhi,Ramesh Bais (all BJP),Shankersinh Vaghela,Bijoy Krishna Handique,Biren Singh Engti (all Cong),E Ahamed (IUML) and Ajit Singh (RLD).