Candidates in the first two phases of Lok Sabha polls in Assam are a young lot with 26 of the 88 in fray in their 30s, 24 in their 40s and only two above the age of 80.
There are three candidates in their 20s, 19 in 50s, nine in 60s and five in their 70s, according to the nomination details filed by the candidates.
Two former Union ministers - Congress' Bijoy Krishna Handique, contesting to retain the Jorhat constituency for the seventh consecutive term, and BJP's Kabindra Purkayastha fighting to retain the seat for the third term - are the senior-most candidates in the fray at 82.
Among Congress candidates, sitting MPs from Karimganj Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya at 72 and Autonomous District's Biren Singh Engti at 74 are next in seniority while Union Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar follows at 62.
The BJP has no candidates in their 70s or 60s, but has three candidates in their 50s - state unit president Sarbananda Sonowal at 52 from Lakhimpur, Autonomous Districts' Joyram Engleng at 54 and Tezpur's Ram Prasad Sarmah at 58 while Union Minister Ranee Narah at 50, contesting from Lakhimpur is the only candidate of the Congress in this age group.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's son, Gourav Gogoi, making his electoral debut from Koliabor is the youngest party candidate at 31 while for the BJP it is the firebrand tea workers' leader 38-year-old Kamakhya Prasad Tasa from Jorhat.
The AGP, which initially consolidated itself as a youth party, has no contestants in the 20s or 30s with their youngest candidate being former ULFA militant 44-year-old Hari Prasad Dihingiya from Lakhimpur.
AGP has two contestants in the seventies - Rabindranath Choudhury (74) from Karimganj and Bijoy Krishna Nath (70) from Silchar. Its sitting Tezpur MLA Joseph Toppo is 65, while former state minister Prodip Hazarika is 61. Among other parties, the Samajwadi Party, contesting three seats in the two phases - has fielded the youngest candidate - 28-year-old Rashid Ahmed Laskar from Silchar while the other two candidates in their 20s are Independents.
Assam's principal opposition in the state assembly - the AIUDF'S seniormost candidate is 74-year-old Kutub Ahmed Mazumdar and the youngest is 34-year-old Mamun Imdadul Haque Choudhury.
The All India Trinamool Congress, contesting six of the eight seats in the two phases, has fielded three candidates in their candidates, two in their 50s and one in 60s.
The youngest Trinamool Congress candidate is a woman - 32-year-old Ribulya Gogoi from Jorhat and the oldest is 69-year-old Gopichand Shahabadi from Tezpur.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is contesting five seats in the two phases and its youngest candidate is also a woman - 34-year-old Hiramoni Deka Sonowal from Lakhimpur while its oldest is 61-year-old Tarun Kumar Das from Karimganj.
CPI's 68-year-old Dhrupad Borgohain from Jorhat is the seniormost while SUCI(Communist)'s 32-year-old Hem Kanta Miri from Lakhimpur is the youngest among all the candidates of the Left parties - CPI(M), CPI, SUCI (Communist), CPI-ML (Liberation) and All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) contesting in the two phases.
Among the 30 independents in the fray, controversial former Congress MP Moni Kumar Subba, contesting as an Independent from Tezpur at 56 has the distinction of being the seniormost while the youngest is 27-year-old Hrishikesh Barua from Lakhimpur.
Five constituencies - Tezpur, Lakhimpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat and Dibrugarh - will go to polls on April 7 with 51 candidates in the fray and Karimganj, Silchar and Autonomous District will go to polls in the second phase on April 12 with 37 candidates in fray.
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