Record 61 women elected to Lok Sabha

The just concluded 16th Lok Sabha elections has created a record of sorts with 61 women MPs being elected to the Lower House.

According to an analysis of PRS Legislative Research, it was a marginal increase when compared with the 2009 general elections, when 58 women were elected.

As far as the educational profile of the MPs is concerned, 75 per cent among them have at least a graduate degree.

"This is slightly lesser than the 15th Lok Sabha in which 79 per cent of MPs held at least a graduate degree.

Interestingly, the percentage of MPs elected in the 2014 general elections who do not have a matriculate degree is significantly higher in this election (13 per cent) in comparison to the 15th Lok Sabha (3 per cent)," the statement said.

On the age front, the analysis claims that only 71 MPs (13 per cent), who have been elected to the Lok Sabha in this election happen to be under the age of 40 years.

Of the total 543 MPs, who were elected to the 16th Lok Sabha, 253 are over the age of 55 years, the release added.

The analysis that went into the professional profile of the MPs revealed that 27 per cent of the elected MPs have listed agriculture as their primary occupation, followed by political and social work (24 per cent) and business (20 per cent).

"If we compare this with the 15th Lok Sabha, we find that 28 per cent MPs had listed political and social work as their occupation, 27 per cent had listed agriculture, while 15 per cent had listed business," the statement added.