Heir Band

Power came easy to them, but they are ready for the rough and tumble of electoral politics. Meet the young blue bloods who are trying to make their mark this Lok Sabha election

- Pratul Sharma

In 1984, Somnath Chatterjee, a three-time Lok Sabha MP from Jadavpur, thought his fourth election would be a breeze. Unable to find a candidate willing to take on the 55-year old CPI(M) leader in his bastion, the Congress fielded a 29-year-old youth wing member, Mamata Banerjee, on the recommendation of Pranab Mukherjee.

Banerjee went on to create a buzz around her campaign, and felled Chatterjee, winning the seat by 16,900 votes. That was the only election Chatterjee lost in the 11 Lok Sabha polls he contested (1971-2004). Banerjee, today the chief minister of West Bengal, was then the youngest Lok Sabha MP ever. Young guns come in handy when the challenge appears insurmountable.

In politics, age is sometimes just a number, or even relative. For the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, 48, represents the next generation—youthful and energetic. In December 2013, a rookie defeated three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. Overnight, 44-year-old Arvind Kejriwal became a sensation.

This Lok Sabha election, parties have sought out young and fresh faces to beat anti-incumbency or even infuse greater energy into the contest. In the BJP, all outgoing MPs above 75 years—including L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi, B.C. Khanduri, Shanta Kumar and Kalraj Mishra—were cajoled into vacating their seats. Their exit coincided with the entry of many younger leaders into the party. Cricketer Gautam Gambhir, 37, who was priming himself with his ultranationalistic statements, joined the BJP and is its candidate from East Delhi. The BJP has also given tickets to some of the younger turncoats from the Trinamool in Bengal.