AAP fields most number of graduates

Over 65 per cent of the Aam Aadmi Party’s candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections are graduates, the highest number among the top three parties contesting the polls.

However, when it comes to fielding postgraduates, the Bharatiya Janata Party leads the pack.

The Hindu ’s analysis of affidavits filed by the 210 candidates of the AAP, the National Democratic Alliance (Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiromani Akali Dal), and the Congress found that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party topped the list of graduates.

Out of the 70 candidates, those who hold graduate or higher degrees, make up 65.71 per cent of the AAP’s list, 58.57 per cent of the BJP-SAD’s list, and 50 per cent of the Congress’ candidates.

The BJP-Akali Dal alliance has fielded the most - 25.71 per cent - candidates who have not passed the Class XII exam. A total of 20 per cent of the Congress’ and 15.71 per cent of the AAP candidates have not passed Class XII.

Though the AAP has more graduates, the BJP has the highest number of postgraduate degree holders. These include two professors, Timarpur candidate Rajni Abbi and Janakpuri candidate Jagdish Mukhi, and chief ministerial hopeful Kiran Bedi, who holds a Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi.

BJP candidate from Nangloi, Jat Manoj Kumar Shokeen, and Congress candidate from R.K. Puram, Lila Dhar Bhatt, have been counted as Class XII pass, though Mr. Shokeen is awaiting his final year BA results and Mr. Bhatt is in the third year of a Bachelor of Social Work. The Chhatarpur candidate of the BJP, Brahm Singh Tanwar, has described himself as “IX pass”, but his affidavit says that “actual records are not available”.

The AAP candidates hold more professional degrees with former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal among the many engineers and lawyers fielded by the party.

Interestingly, there appears to be a sophomore curse when it comes to politicians as five and four candidates respectively of the BJP and the Congress dropped out of college in second year.

BJP candidates Subhash Sachdeva from Moti Nagar and R.P. Singh from Rajendra Nagar left the sought-after B.Com course at Delhi University in second year.

Correction

>>There was an error in the graphic that accompanied “AAP fields most number of graduates” (Jan. 29, 2015, some editions). The number of candidates below Class X was given as 10 . It should have been 5 .