Noida. Of the candidates in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, 125 have studied up to class VIII, while 15 have described themselves as “illiterates”. ADR, an organization advocating electoral reforms, gave this information. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) also said that more than 70 candidates in the election are over the age of 60.
The ADR said it has analyzed the affidavits of 615 candidates of political parties and independent candidates from 58 assembly seats in 11 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Under the first phase, elections in these assembly constituencies are to be held on February 10. As per the ADR data, 15 candidates are ‘illiterates’, 38 are ‘literate’, 10 candidates have studied up to Class V, 62 have studied up to Class 8, 65 have studied up to Class 10 and 102 have studied up to Class 12.
The ADR said there are 100 ‘undergraduate’ candidates, 78 ‘graduate professional’, 108 ‘postgraduate’, 18 ‘doctoral’ and seven ‘diploma’ holders, while 12 have not given details of their education. It said that 239 candidates (39 per cent) have declared their educational qualification between class V and 12, while 304 candidates (49 per cent) have declared their educational qualification as graduation or above. In terms of age, 214 candidates (35 per cent) have declared their age as between 25 and 40 years and 328 candidates (53 per cent) have declared it as between 41 and 60 years.
It said that 73 candidates (12 per cent) have given their age between 61 and 80 years. In the first phase, polling is going to be held in 58 assembly constituencies of Agra, Aligarh, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Mathura, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts. The results of the elections will be declared on March 10.