Guwahati, Nov. 18: Lakshmi Orang’s “actual age” has put the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) in a fix.

Is Lakshmi, an aspirant to the party’s ticket for the Lok Sabha elections, 25 years of age as she claimed today, or a teenager, as she deposed before a judge probing the Beltola violence during which she was stripped and assaulted by a mob here last year?

Lakshmi has produced a birth certificate to buttress her claim of being 25 — the minimum age required to contest parliamentary elections.

What is more embarrassing for the AUDF is the fact that the Jharkhand Disom Party, which had played an important role in mobilising support against the Beltola violence, had earlier this year rejected Orang’s plea for a party ticket because of her age and advised her to continue her studies. The JDP, however, gave her a party membership.

“She even stayed at the house of our national chairman Salkhan Murmu in Ranchi for a month and worked for the party there in April this year,” the president of the Assam unit of the JDP, Junas Murmu, said. He added that his party had asked Lakshmi to wait till she attained the requisite age to contest the election.

Apart from the age factor, the JDP also wanted Lakshmi, who unsuccessfully appeared for her matriculation examination this year, to continue her education, Murmu said.

The All Adivasi Students Association of Assam also raised eyebrows over the AUDF’s plan to push Lakshmi into electoral politics.

The tribal girl had come to Beltola on November 24 last year to take part in the rally organised by the association to demand Scheduled Tribe status for Adivasis/Tea tribes.

The association’s vice-president, David Horo, insisted that Lakshmi was not eligible to contest the election and should concentrate on her studies.

Dismissing the “underage” charge, Lakshmi today said over phone, “How can others be so sure of my age? Only my parents can tell me my real age.” She said she was born on August 10, 1983 and had a birth certificate to prove her age.

“I have decided to join politics to serve the people and to ensure that no woman is victimised in our society in future,” she said.

AUDF president Badruddin Ajmal tried to play down the age controversy and said his party would go by the birth certificate provided by Lakshmi.

He said his party was considering giving her a ticket for the Tezpur parliamentary seat on the basis of the birth certificate furnished by her.

“If the Election Commission rejects her nomination on the ground of being underage, then we will abide by its decision. After all, we have to follow the Constitution,” he said.

AUDF working president Hafiz Rashid Choudhury, however, has asked the party’s Tezpur unit to send Lakshmi’s birth certificate to him.