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About 51% of the candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala are educated up to Class 12 while 46% have declared their educational qualification as graduate or above.
Ninety-six candidates are educated up to Class 12 or below while 86 are graduates or above. Seven candidates are diploma holders, according to an analysis of the sworn affidavits of 189 out of the 194 candidates in the fray in the State carried out by poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). There are 29 candidates who have postgraduate degrees while eight are PhD holders. Of the 96 candidates educated up to Class 12 or below, 13 are educated up till Class 5 while 12 have passed Class 8. Fifty have passed Class 10.
Only 24 women candidates
The data showed that 51% (97) of the candidates are aged between 41 and 60 years. There are 63 (33%) candidates who have declared their age between 61 and 80 years. There are only 29 candidates between the age of 25 and 40. Only 24 women candidates are contesting this Lok Sabha election.
The average assets of candidate is ₹2.38 crore. The party-wise average is: Bharatiya Janata Party (₹9 crore); Kerala Congress (₹9 crore); Indian National Congress (₹8 crore); Revolutionary Socialist Party (₹4 crore); Kerala Congress (M) (₹3 crore); Communist Party of India (Marxist) (₹2 crore); Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (₹2 crore); and Twenty20 (₹2 crore).
Sixty-three candidates have assets more than ₹1 crore. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress have 13 members each in the ‘crorepati club’. There are 10 CPI(M) candidates having assets more than ₹1 crore. Fourteen candidates have not declared their details related to the Permanent Account Number (PAN). Sixty-seven candidates are facing criminal cases. Thirty-eight candidates are facing serious charges.
The sworn affidavits of five could not be analysed owing to the lack of their properly scanned and complete affidavits at the time of making the report, according to the ADR.
