If age inevitably equalled wisdom, the State Legislature could claim to have increasingly been its repository, going by the average age of the MLAs down the years.
From 1957 to 2011, the average age of MLAs had kept on going up with each passing decade. From 40.91 in the 1950s, it had reached an all-time high of 58.81 in the 1990s and came down slightly to 58.08 between 2000 and 2006.
Records available with the Legislature Secretariat state that the House had the highest percentage of youngsters (23-44 age group) in the 1950s (68.04 per cent) and 1970s (42.64 per cent).
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The State Assembly had the largest chunk of members in the age group of 55 and above in the 1990s (34.18 per cent) followed by 1980s (28.33 per cent) and 1970s (19.85 per cent).
The CPI had the best track record of sending the largest contingent of (relative) youngsters to the legislature. The lowest average age of the party MLAs was 44.49. Among the major political parties, the CPI(M) topped the list of parties with the highest average age of MLAs (48.75). Interestingly, the Congress had the highest number of MLAs in the age group between 55 and 64 (89) and 65-74 age group.
Recommending a ceiling on age for being an MLA, G. Vijayaraghavan, member of the State Planning Board, said that political parties should keep 70 years as the cap for being a Minister while it could be 75 years for the post of Chief Minister. “The cut-off for contesting as an MLA could be fixed between 70 and 75 years. They should also agree to give 50 per cent of the seats to new faces,” he said.
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J. Prabhash, Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science, Kerala University, said that there remains a contradiction between the age profiles of the electorate and that of our elected representatives. “In the case of Lok Sabha, the age profile of the members has been increasing, while the median age of the Indian voters has been decreasing. The average age of MLAs in the State stands at 49.54 as against 50.39 for the Lok Sabha,” he said.