In the 'age' of youth power
Ruhi Tewari -
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 6:41 PM
The 15th Lok Sabha is younger than the previous one. Around 15% of the newly elected members are in the age group of 25-40 years, as against only 6.3% in the 14th Lok Sabha, data from PRS Legislative Research reveals. Similarly, the number of members of the Lower House falling in the age group of 71-100 years has come down from 11.7% to only 7%.
According to the Election Commission or EC, 31 MPs in the current Lok Sabha are in the age group of 25-35 years, while twelve are between 66-75 years. There are four MPs over 80 years, including BJP veteran L K Advani and Congress leader Sis Ram Ola. While the oldest parliamentarian at 88 is Ram Sundar Das from JD (U), the youngest MP is Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed (26) from the Congress. In fact, three of the five youngest MPs (between 25-30) have been elected from a Congress ticket.
However, candidates in the age group of 46-55 years seem to be the voters' favourite with 169 MPs in this age group finding their way into the House, constituting over 30% of the total strength of the House.
Has youth finally trumped experience in Lok Sabha elections? Is this verdict as much for change, as it is for stability?
In the pre-election period, political parties and leaders were courting young voters and the age of political leaders like L.K. Advani and Rahul Gandhi was actually being made into an electoral issue. After all, nearly two-thirds of India is below 35 years of age, the cut-off for ‘youth' according, to the National Youth Policy.
Congress seems to have read the pulse of the voter correctly, and out of the 31 MPs between 25-35 years, 12 are from the Congress alone. The BJP is next with 5.
Rahul Gandhi's focus on ‘youth power' and his idea of giving preference to youth in the party seems to have clicked. The ‘youth card' has worked.
Obviously, a younger lot of political leaders bring with them a degree of freshness, along with the yearning for a positive change. The five-year tenure of the15th Lok Sabha can now look forward to some originality of ideas and novelty of approach.