With the defeat of Parliament veterans in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the State’s representation in the 17th Lok Sabha will be the youngest in at least two decades.
The average age of the elected MPs is 56.7 years, which is significantly lower than the average age of 61 in the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19), 57.9 in the 15th (2009-14), and 57.7 in the 14th (2004-09).
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tejaswi Surya from Bengaluru South and the Janata Dal (Secular)’s Prajwal Revanna from Hassan — both 28 years of age — have become the youngest parliamentarians from Karnataka since Anantkumar Hegde was first elected in 1996. At 78, the BJP’s G.S. Basavaraj (Tumakuru) is the oldest MP.
However, the 17th Lok Sabha will be among the more experienced lot from the State. There are 11 first-time MPs, including three (Sumalatha from Mandya, Mr. Revanna, and Mr. Surya) who have not held an elected position in city or State administration. As many as 12 MPs have represented the State for more than two terms, with Ramesh C. Jigajinagi (BJP, Vijayapura) and Mr. Hegde (BJP, Uttara Kannada) doing so six times.
Education and assets
As with previous elections, the number of elected MPs with graduate and postgraduate degrees form the majority of voices in Parliament. Nearly 60% of the State MPs have a degree — a slight decrease from 71% in the previous two Lok Sabhas — while just five MPs have SSLC or lower as their highest educational qualification. Seven MPs have a degree in law.
As many as 27 MPs, save for Mr. Surya, have declared assets of more than ₹1 crore. The average assets of the State MPs is ₹36.56 crore — more than 2.5 times the average assets of ₹ 14.47 crore declared by the winning candidates of 2014. Fifteen MPs who were in the 16th Lok Sabha have been re-elected, and on average, their assets have gone up 125%.
The Congress’ D.K. Suresh, who was re-elected from Bengaluru Rural, has seen the largest increase, declaring assets of ₹338.9 crore, compared to ₹85.87 crore in 2014. Mr. Jigajinagi has seen the highest percentage increase, with his declared assets of ₹50.4 crore being nearly five times what was declared in 2014.
Ten out of the 28 MPs have declared a total of 26 criminal cases against them, with Mr. Suresh currently fighting five criminal cases pertaining to illegal quarrying. Pralhad Joshi (BJP, Dharwad), Shobha Karandlaje (BJP, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru), Pratap Simha (BJP, Mysuru) and Mr. Hegde have declared criminal cases over disruption of communal harmony through speech or protest.
