From illiterates to Doctorates, all in fray in 2024 Lok Sabha polls

0
72

India is heading to become world’s third-largest economy by 2027. Reports indicate that India is poised to surpass Japan and Germany, positioning itself as the world’s third-largest economy by 2027, according to a note published by analysts at the investment banking firm Jefferies earlier this year.

However having the maximum population count country-wise on this planet and no specific criteria pertaining to minimum qualification for contesting its parliamentary elections, in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha polls, a neat 352 candidates were illiterates or just literates in all seven phases while over 1000 were not even matriculates.

Paradoxically, a peon’s post in a government office had a minimum qualification of class 12 or graduation while even a sanitation worker was required to be a matriculate or class 12 pass to apply for the same.

137 illiterate candidates contesting polls

As per reports of ADR and National Election Watch, a shocking 137 candidates in fray in all the seven phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls were illiterates. This means that if they registered a win, they would not be able to even read official documents a Member of Parliament was required to go through and take decisions accordingly or attend to routine work of an MP.

215 just literates in fray

Moreover, 215 candidates are just literates while 382 candidates had studied up till class 5. Further, reports revealed, 654 candidates had studied till class 8 while 1256 were matriculates and 1406 had cleared their senior secondary school examination.

Notably, a maximum of 1617 candidates in fray in all the seven phases were graduates followed by 1074 graduate professionals, 1418 Post Graduates, 247 Phd degree holders while232 were diploma holders.

Phase-wise a maximum 26 illiterates had contested the Lok Sabha polls in phase IV and I while 24 illiterates were in phase VII, 21 in phase V, 19 in Phase III besides 13 in phase VI and 8 in phase II of the ongoing polls.

Says political analyst and senior journalist Brijendra Pratap Singh, ‘Lack of minimum educational qualification for assuming leadership role for this country was a gaping hole in the democratic setup which had affected the quality of leadership a progressing nation required to become world major.”

Lok Sabha poll candidates and their educational qualification

Category I II III IV V VI VII Total
Illiterate 26 8 19 26 21 13 24 137
Literate 36 37 56 30 18 12 26 215
5th pass 95 50 71 69 44 22 31 382
8th pass 133 104 131 93 71 60 62 654
10th pass 221 192 206 234 189 90 133 1265
12th pass 190 187 231 248 214 160 176 1406
Graduate 225 205 219 348 264 192 164 1617
GraduateProfessional 309 128 143 195 107 109 83 1074
Post Graduate 47 210 208 356 273 165 159 1418
Doctorate 77 31 21 45 28 21 24 247
Diploma 4 37 44 66 39 22 20 232

 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here