NEW DELHI :  About 105, or 19 per cent, winning candidates declared their educational qualification to be between class 5 pass and 12, while 420, or 77 per cent, such candidates declared having a graduate degree or above, according to poll rights body ADR Seventeen winning candidates were diploma holders and one winner was “just literate,” the Association of Democratic Reforms said.

 All 121 candidates, who declared themselves illiterate, lost the polls. There were two winning candidates who studied up to class 5, while four said they did up to class 8.

Thirty-four candidates declared they studied up to class 10, and 65 up to class 12.  According to another analysis by think-tank PRS Legislative Research, agriculture and social work emerged as the most common professions among the 543 MPs.

Notably, 91 per cent of MPs from Chhattisgarh, 72 per cent from Madhya Pradesh, and 65 per cent from Gujarat indicated agriculture as one of their professions. About 7 per cent of MPs elected to the 18th Lok Sabha are lawyers, and 4 per cent medical practitioners.

The proportion of MPs with undergraduate degrees increased steadily from the 1st Lok Sabha until the 11th (1996-98).  Since then, the proportion of MPs without college education has also increased.

However, this figure has decreased from 27 per cent in the 17th Lok Sabha to 22 per cent in the 18th Lok Sabha, according to PRS.  Its analysis revealed that 5 per cent of MPs — three of them women — in the 18th Lok Sabha hold doctoral degrees.

 Out of 8,390 candidates who were in fray, 121 candidates declared themselves illiterate and 359 stated they studied up to the 5th grade.According to official data, 647 candidates reported their education level up to the 8th grade.

A total of 1,303 candidates declared they cleared school and 1,502 candidates said they had a graduate degree.  There were 198 candidates with a doctorate.