Age Key Ingredient In Punjab Poll Cauldron

Akali Dal insists Parkash Singh Badal will be chief minister again if they are re-elected in Punjab polls

Chandigarh: More than half of Punjab's voters are under 40 and that statistic will be a major factor in how every political party designs its campaign for the Assembly elections to be held early next year.

There is little scope for traditional rivals Akali Dal and the Congress to project a young chief ministerial candidate. The Congress has 74-year-old Amarinder Singh. The ruling Akali Dal insists Parkash Singh Badal, 89 (by the time elections come), will be chief minister again if they are re-elected, but his son and deputy Sukhbir Badal, 54, does not correct NDTV when introduced as the prospective Chief Minister.

The Aam Aadmi Party debuts in Punjab in this election and seems to have the best chance to field a younger candidate for the top post, though it has not announced one yet. Led by the 48-year-old Arvind Kejriwal, the party is also first off the blocks wooing the young voter with a separate youth manifesto. Also, 11 of the 32 candidates that it has already announced in Punjab are under 40.

BJP ally the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has announced a "youth for Punjab" campaign but has not said who will lead it. "SAD has leaders and they will be projected at the right time", said Rajya Sabha lawmaker Naresh Gujral of the party.

"You don't need a 25-year-old to convince a 25-year-old; you convince the youth with conviction and logic," said Mr Gujral, who is valued for his skills at strategy, called upon even by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while making alliances.

AAP's Harjot Singh Bains With Arvind Kejriwal

But one of AAPs youngest candidate, 25-year-old Harjot Singh Bains, told NDTV, "The people want young candidates, they don't want leaders who are too experienced in making money and corruption."

Congressman Amarinder Singh has said that this is his last election and that the time has come to bring in a new generation of leaders.

It has leaders like Simar Barnala, 27 years old, the grandson of stalwart Akali Surjit Singh Barnala. However, when this reporter visited Punjab's Dhuri constituency from where Mr Barnala is likely to stand, the crowds chanted Captain Amarinder Singh's name.