Voters still bank on agriculturists as their representatives in Parliament!

Pankaj Sharma/Zee Research Group/Delhi

Choices of voters in sending their representatives to Parliament have yet again proven the Lok Sabha is truly the House of Commons. While many leaders from emerging fields have gained ground in Indian politics, the electorate still seems to bank on those with an agriculture background. Out of 314 newly-elected MPs in this Lok Sabha, 79 (25.15 per cent) are agriculturists or farmers by profession. Also, while 20 of the newly-elected Lok Sabha members are unmarried, 38 haven’t mentioned their marital status. Quite surprisingly, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left this column blank. A Zee Research Group (ZRG) study of newly-elected members of the Lower House of Parliament reveals interesting results. While maximum agriculturists have entered the 16th Lok Sabha, political and social workers follow them. In the current Lok Sabha, 63 people are from political and social work backgrounds. Leaders including Giriraj Singh (BJP), RK Bharathi Mohan (AIADMK), Radheshyam Biswas (AIUDF), BN Chandrappa (INC), Prof Ravindra Vishwanath Gaikwad (SHS), Nagesh Godan (TRS), Santosh Kumar (JD U), et al are agriculturists by profession. The list of key leaders from political and social work backgrounds include Narendra Modi (BJP), Nitin Gadkari (BJP), Dushant Chautala (INLD), Abhishek Banerjee (AITC), Upendra Kushawaha (RLSP), Rita Tarai (BJD) etc. The 314 first timers also include 254 married and 20 unmarried people’s representatives, while 38 MPs have left the column blank. Other than PM Modi, leaders like SS Ahluwalia (BJP), Ranjit Singh Brahmpura (SAD), Vijay Kumar Hansdak (JMM), Abhishek Banerjee (AITC) haven’t mentioned their marital status. The 16th Lok Sabha also has a good number of people belonging to the business genre. In the House, the total of businesspersons (48), builders (2) and industrialists (1) stand at 51 (16.24 per cent). Poonam Mahajan (BJP), Parvesh Verma (BJP), Santokh Singh Chaudhary (INC), Geetha Kothapalli (YSRCP), Krupal Balaji Tumane (SHS) are from this category. Advocates and Medical Practitioners have also entered the arena of politics by winning the General Election. In ongoing Lok Sabha, there are 31 advocates (9.87 per cent) and 21 medical practitioners (6.68 per cent). Advocates include Meenakshi Lekhi (BJP), Idris Ali (AITC), Muzaffar Hussain Baig (PDP), Sushmita Dev (INC), V. Panneer Selvam (AIADMK), et al. Furthermore, the list of medical practitioners consists of Dr Harsh Vardhan (BJP), Dr K Gopal (AIADMK), Dr Dharam Vira Gandhi (AAP), Dr Anbumani Ramadoss (PMK), Dr Uma Saren (AITC) and Dr Shrikant Eknath Shinde (SHS). Moreover, there are 13 elected leaders from the field of Education. The major names in the category are Sanjeev Kumar Balyan (BJP), Sugata Bose (AITC), Md. Badaruddoza Khan (CPIM), Anwhar Raajhaa (AIADMK) and Sadhu Singh (AAP), among others. More so, there are 11 MPs who are artists by profession. The list has names like Paresh Rawal (BJP) Kirron Kher (BJP), Babul Supriyo (BJP), Moon Moon Sen (AITC), Murali Mohan Maganti (TRS), Bhagwant Mann (AAP), etc. The House also has two MPs each belonging to journalism and defence services. Ashwini Kumar and Prathap Simha of BJP have mentioned journalism as their profession. VK Singh and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are from defence services. Similarly, the House has one engineer, writer and transporter each. Out of 314 elected MPs, 33 haven’t mentioned about their profession. Key leaders like Jayant Sinha (BJP), Chirag Paswan (LJP) and Ashok Gajapati Raju (TDP) are part of such a squad.