As per the data on the Lok Sabha website, 41 political parties have representation in the 18th Lok Sabha. Nearly 52% of the MPs are elected for the first time to the Lok Sabha while the average age is 56 years. Over 30% of the MPs have declared their profession as agriculture or related sectors such as livestock.
Nearly a month has passed since the results of the 18th Lok Sabha election were announced, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has formed the government for the third consecutive time with thin majority.
As the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha begins, with members taking their oath, we look at some intriguing statistics about the elected candidates, including the proportion of first-time MPs, the strength of each party, gender representation, age groups, education levels, professions, and more.
Note: The analysis in the story is limited to data furnished on Sansad website which is curated by Dataful
83% of Political Parties have Single Digit seats; 40% of these have 1 seat each
As per the data, 41 political parties are represented in the 18th Lok Sabha. Among them, 17 parties hold only one seat each, accounting for 40% of the total parties represented. Additionally, 7 parties have 2 seats each, 3 parties have 3 seats each, another 3 parties have 4 seats each, and one party has 7 seats. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena, and Lok Jan Shakti Party hold 9, 8, and 5 seats respectively. In total, 35 parties, or 83% of those represented, have single-digit seat counts.
Among the remaining 7 parties, 6 have double-digit seat counts, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the leading party of the NDA, holds the sole triple-digit count with 240 seats, comprising 44% of the total seats. The Indian National Congress (INC), leading the I.N.D.I. Alliance, follows with 98 seats, or 18% of the total. The Samajwadi Party (SP), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) follow with approximately 6%, 5%, and 4% of the total seats in the 18th Lok Sabha.
Number of Women Elected are only about 15%
The Women’s Reservation Act aims at increasing number of women in Parliament and State Assemblies to 33% of total seats. However, the number of women elected in 18th Lok Sabha are only 74 or about 15% of total seats, down from 78 in 2019.
Of the 42 political parties represented, 14 have at least one female MP. Among parties with at least 3 seats won by women, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) leads with 37% of its seats (11 out of 29) held by women. This is followed by Janata Dal (United) with 16%, and DMK, SP, and INC each with about 13%. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has 31 women MPs, making up for slightly fewer than 13% of its total seats.
During these elections, no transgenders were elected, though 6 of them have contested; four as independents, and two from the Bharatiya Jan Jagriti Party and Right to Recall Party.
Nearly 52% elected to the 18th Lok Sabha are first time Lok Sabha MPs
A total of 281 MPs, nearly 52% of the 542 MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha, were first time Lok Sabha MPs. Among parties with 5 or more first time Lok Sabha MPs, the NCP and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) lead this list with 75% of their candidates being first time elected, followed by SP, INC, and Lok Jan Shakti with 72%, 61%, and 60%, respectively. Though BJP leads with 107 first time Lok Sabha MPs out of the 240 MPs elected from BJP, their share however is only 44%.
Further, the number of candidates who are elected more than once is 261. Out of these, 114 candidates were elected second time, while 74, 35, and 19 candidates were elected for third, fourth and fifth time, respectively.
Notably, 10 candidates were elected for the sixth time, 7 for the seventh, and 2 for the eighth time. Among the six-time electees, Rajesh Ranjan (Pappu Yadav) was the sole Independent, while 6 were from BJP, and 1 each from INC, AITC, and DMK. Of the seven-time electees, 6 were from BJP and 1 from DMK. Virender Kumar (BJP) and Kodikunnil Suresh (INC), aged 70 and 62 respectively, were the two candidates elected for the eighth time.
Average Age among elected is 56, while it is 53 among the first time MPs
The national average age among the 542 elected candidates in the 18th Lok Sabha is 56 years. The youngest elected candidate is Pushpendra Saroj of the Samajwadi Party (SP), aged 25, while the oldest is TR Balu of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), aged 83 and elected seven times so far.
Candidates in the 25 to 30 age group hold only 7 seats, with a gender distribution of 5 women and 2 men. Those in the 31 to 40 age group hold 45 seats, with 8 women and 37 men. These groups represent a mere 1.2% and 8.3% of the total seats, respectively, combining for less than 9.5%.
The largest representation is found in the 51 to 60 age group, which holds 30% of the seats, closely followed by the 61 to 70 age group with 29%. Candidates aged 41 to 50 years hold 20% of the seats, and those aged 71 and above hold 9.7% of the total seats. Overall, 70% of the seats are held by candidates aged 50 and above, and this figure increases to over 90% when one includes the 41 to 50 age group.
In fact, the combined share of candidates aged 25 to 40 (9.5%) is less than that of the oldest age group (71 to 83), which holds 9.7% of seats. Even among first-time elected candidates, the average age is 53 years. The only bright spot is that 5 out of 7 elected in the age group of 25 to 30 are women, by far the highest share of women elected across all the age groups.
78% of the Elected are Graduate and above degree holders
As per the data, out of the total elected candidates, 274 hold graduate degrees, while 133 have postgraduate degrees and 16 have doctorate degrees. Together, these account for 423 candidates or 78% of the total. Additionally, 14 candidates have declared themselves as diploma holders. Candidates with 10th and 12th-grade qualifications number 22 and 30, respectively, making up 9.5% of the total, while 11 candidates have declared their education level as undergraduate, primary, or under-matriculation. A total of 38 candidates, or 7%, did not provide details about their education.
When analyzing the professions of the elected candidates, a total of 165, or over 30% of the MPs, have declared their profession as agriculture or related sectors such as livestock. Notable figures among them include senior politicians like H. D. Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal (United), Manohar Lal Khattar, Shivraj Singh Chauhan of BJP, and Akhilesh Yadav of SP.
Eighty-two candidates, or over 5%, are businessmen, encompassing professions such as automobile dealers, builders, and entrepreneurs. This group includes individuals like Y. S. Avinash Reddy of YSRCP and Naveen Jindal of BJP. Additionally, 75 candidates, or over 13%, including notable figures like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Kishan Reddy, have declared themselves as social workers.
Forty-four candidates, or over 8%, have identified themselves as either politicians or a combination of politicians and social workers. Other prominent professions among the elected candidates include legal (6%), medical (5%), teaching (2%), and acting (2%).
