Patna, Oct. 5: Here's a quiz question: We all know RJD chief Lalu Prasad has seven daughters and two sons; now, name who is younger and who is older among the sons. If you answer Tej Pratap as the older and Tejaswi as the younger, you will have got it wrong. That is, if you go by the election affidavits filed by the young Yadavs.
On Monday Tej Pratap filed his nomination from Mahua Assembly seat in Vaishali district, and the document says he is 25 years old. Meanwhile, the nomination papers for Tejaswi, filed on Saturday for Raghopur Assembly seat from the same district, say he is 26.
Admittedly, that runs counter to common knowledge. On several occasions, Lalu has introduced Tej as his older son and the cricket-playing Tejaswi as the younger. As recently as September 27 Tejaswi, addressing his first election campaign rally in Raghopur, had said - and The Telegraph was there - that he was 26 years old. So what explains the family faux pas? The confusion in the affidavits, clarified close Lalu aide and MLC Bhola Yadav, is because of errors on the electoral roll.
"It is not Tej Pratap's fault; even Tejaswi's age is mentioned wrong (in the affidavit) because as per the rule we have to mention whatever age is on the electoral roll. We cannot change it ourselves. In reality, Tej Pratap is 26 years old and Tejaswi is 25. However, the correction can only be made in December 2015 (the next opportunity for electoral roll revision). By January 2016, they will have the right ages on the electoral roll," Bhola said.
Recently, Tej and Tejaswi had shared their dates of birth with The Telegraph; Tej was born on April 16, 1989, which makes him 26 years old, and Tejaswi was born on November 9, 1989, so he is 25.
Besides being a source of mirth, the mess-up does not really have any political implications, a senior Election Commission officer told The Telegraph. "It is the duty of the returning officer to check the authenticity of the age. If the officer finds the candidate below 25 years, the nomination would be rejected. But if the age is above 25 and the candidate mentions the wrong age, nothing happens," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Recently, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi landed in a soup over providing two different ages - 69 and 70 - in his assets declarations.
Meanwhile, Tej Pratap's election affidavit says he has movable assets worth Rs 1.12 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 88.7 lakh. He has a CBRI000RR motorcycle that costs Rs 15.4 lakh. That's a Honda Fireblade "superbike", by the way, and its ex-showroom price in New Delhi is well over Rs 17 lakh. Tej also has a 2012 BMW that costs Rs 29.4 lakh. Tejaswi is a shade richer, with movable assets worth Rs 1.4 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 91.5 lakh.
