Age, poverty no bar: 80-yr-old cobbler to fight his 20th election in Punjab

Neither his age nor his financial constraints prevent an 80-year-old cobbler in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur from contesting elections. As Punjab goes to the polls on February 20, he will be fighting his 20th election.

Om Prakash Jakhu, who mends and cleans shoes for a living at a small shop near the Hoshiarpur Clock Tower, says it is his “junoon” (passion) that keeps him going. He is contesting the elections from Hoshiarpur on Bharatrashtra Democratic Party.

“For half of my life, I have been fighting elections. Most of them have been for the MLA post,” Jakhu says.

The other candidates in the fray from this constituency include Congress’ sitting MLA Sunder Sham Arora, BJP’s Tikshan Sud and AAP’s Bram Shanker.

“I am contesting my 20th election,” Jakhu says with a sense of pride, even though he has not tasted electoral success yet.

The octogenarian says he has even contested the municipal elections from different segments in the Hoshiarpur districts, such as Shamchaurasi, Chabewal and Garhdiwala, and that he has been a candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Lok Janshakti Party in the past.

Even though Jakhu’s earnings may be just enough for him and his family to live from hand to mouth, that does not deter him from taking the electoral plunge. “It is my junoon,” he says about contesting polls.

Jakhu says his wife Bhajan Kaur (75) and their children support his decision to contest the polls.

He claims to have been jailed during the Emergency and that he was once “very close” to BSP founder Kanshi Ram, who used to spend a good amount of time with him while in Hoshiarpur.

On asked about his poll plank, Jakhu says if elected, he will work towards free education for all till the age of 18 and for better health and education facilities.

“The youth need to be saved from drugs,” he says.

He envisions an egalitarian society where every citizen is provided with equal opportunities.