Age no bar: Oldest BMC poll candidate is 76, youngest 21 | Mumbai News

Mumbai: At 76, Krishna Mhadgut is the oldest candidate in the BMC election this year—and he bristles gently at the idea that age should even enter the conversation.“What has age got to do with contesting an election?” he said. “If I don’t get calls late at night asking me to come the next morning for some road work or a drain that hasn’t been cleaned, I cannot sleep.“Mhadgut, though, is part of a tiny cohort. Of the 1,721 candidates in the fray this year, the largest group is in their 40s and 50s—538 candidates in their 40s and 432 in 50s. Another 405 are in their 30s, and 189 are in their 20s. By contrast, only 133 candidates are in their 60s, and just 24 are aged 70 or above, shows data extracted from affidavits by Excelsoft Technologies Ltd.Mhadgut, a retired cable company employee from Borivli, is an SSC-pass who later became a real estate agent. Contesting from Kalina, this is his second attempt at the corporator’s election. The first time, he says, he was asked to contest from a ward where he had never worked. “So, I tell people this is the first time I am seriously standing for elections,” he told TOI. Dr Narendrakumar Sharma (73) is a first-time candidate and a cardiologist with declared assets of Rs 5.25 crore. He says he has worked for years in Borivli East, organising free medical camps for the poor, getting streetlights installed and beautified, and pushing for wider water pipelines. When his home area was reserved for women and the Congress asked him to contest from Dahisar instead, he agreed. Why now? “I am still lean and fit. I run marathons. My hospital is being renovated,” he said. “I realised this is the perfect time to immerse myself in social work.”At the other end of the age spectrum is Sumit Sahil (21), one of the four youngest candidates, for whom entering politics was a decision born not of ambition, but frustration. Standing from Jharimari in Saki Naka, Sumit says the local corporator’s office is right outside his house. “Every day I see a long queue of people coming to get their problems resolved,” he said. “These are not big problems: someone’s garbage is not picked, someone has a clogged drain outside his house. But no one is really interested in solving their issues.” This daily procession of unsolved grievances pushed him into the race. “That is why I decided not to take up a job, but to enter the fray.” Then there is Vinayak Suryavanshi, 70—a retired BEST driver who grew up in Latur but travelled often with his father to Mumbai for farmers’ protests and to demand wages for unpaid road construction workers. “I am standing for the poor,” he said. “For the voiceless—for people like me.”