Twenty two out of the total 90 newly elected legislators of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, which forms 32 per cent, have not even reached to the graduation level.
These include one illiterate MlA hailing from the party that achieved cleared majority, on its own, for the first time ever in the state — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — by winning 47 seats. Besides, four MlAs have studied up to the middle, while eight of them have completed their matric, and 17 surpassed the senior secondary level.
Among the rest, 25 are graduates, and another 20 are the graduate professionals. Twelve have done the post-graduate, while two of them have done their doctorate.
Out of BJP’s 47 winners, maximum 33 have declared having an educational qualification of graduation or above with 14 graduates, nine graduate professionals, eight post-graduate, and one with the doctorate degree. One of them has specified his or her educational level as “others”.
Remaining far behind from the BJP in the race to wrest power, both the Indian National lok Dal (INlD) and the Congress party has 12 MlAs each who have educational qualification above graduation. The two — INlD and Congress — have managed to bag 19 and 15 seats respectively.
While the INlD has eight graduates, three graduate professionals, and one with the postgraduate degree, Congress has two graduates, seven graduate professionals, two post-graduates, and one with the doctorate degree. Maximum of seven winners of the INlD have studied up to the senior secondary level.
If the data regarding candidate’s education level, collected and analyzed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)-National Election Watch, was not enough, the analysis of their criminal background indicated that politics and criminality in the ;jat hinterland’ go hand-in-hand.
Six per cent of the total 90 winners, that are five, are facing “serious” criminal charges against them including criminal intimidation, forgery, among others. The number stood at 13, which is 15 per cent, after 2009 polls.
Among these, Congress MlA from Kaithal and former Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala is topping the list with two charges, followed by BJP MlA from Gurgaon Umesh Aggarwal, Haryana Janhit Congress MlA from Adampur Kuldeep Bishnoi, among others.
Out of the 47 BJP legislators, two are facing serious charges under the Indian Penal Code, while INlD, Congress and HJC have one each.
In all, nine winners have declared criminal cases against themselves, while in 2009, out of 88 winners, 15 (17 per cent) winners had declared criminal cases against themselves. There has been a decrease in the percentage and number of winners in Haryana with declared criminal cases.