India’s Parliament just became younger. Following the recently-concluded 2024 Lok Sabha elections, an analysis of the newly-elected MPs show that the average age is now 56. This is a dip from the average age of 59 in the17th Lok Sabha, as per think tank PRS Legislative Research.
Here’s what the analysis reveals.
A younger Lok Sabha, a newer Lok Sabha
As per the PRS Legislative Research analysis, the average of the MPs in the new Lok Sabha will be 56 years. The average age was 59 years in the 17th Lok Sabha.
The research said that 11 per cent of the MPs are aged 40 or below, and 38 per cent are between the age of 41 and 55.
About 52 per cent of the MPs are aged above 55 and the oldest MP is 82-years-old.
In addition to this, the 18th Lok Sabha will also see newer faces. That’s because nearly 52 per cent of MPs are first timers. The analysis reveals that of the 543 MPs, 281 MPs have been elected for the very first time.
The TDP leads the pack of first-time MPs — a whopping 75 per cent. Meanwhile, the percentage of first time MPs from the BJP is 45 per cent whereas the Congress stands at 60 per cent.
The youngest of them all
The Samajwadi Party’s Pushpendra Saroj and Priya Saroj are the youngest candidates to win the Lok Sabha polls at the age of 25, while the DMK’s TR Baalu (82) is the oldest candidate to win.
Saroj contested and won from Kaushambhi on a Samajwadi Party ticket, defeating two-term BJP MP Vinod Sonkar by a margin of 1.03 lakh votes. His father, Inderjit Saroj, is a member of the UP Assembly.
Priya Saroj contested from Uttar Pradesh’s Machhlishahr seat on a ticket from the Samajwadi Party and defeated sitting BJP MP Bholanath by a margin of 35,850 votes.
Meanwhile, Shambhavi Choudhary (25) is the youngest NDA MP. She defeated Sunny Hazari of the Congress, her closest opponent, by a sizable margin of over one lakh votes to win from the Samastipur constituency. She is the daughter of Ashok Choudhary, who is a part of the Nitish Kumar-led Cabinet in Bihar.
