Majority of candidates contesting Lok Sabha elections say they work as farmers
After farming comes business as 17 per cent of candidates have mentioned this as their occupation in their affidavits.
In Short
- More than 200 contestants marked themselves as 'unemployed' in their affidavits
- Around 300 candidates marked themselves as 'retired'
- BJP has fielded the maximum number of candidates from the agrarian community - 70
With agricultural distress and traders' issues dominating the political discourse of India recently, both BJP and Congress have left no stone unturned to reach out to farmers and businessmen.
While the Modi government has promised to 'double farm income' by 2022, Congress has announced a separate budget for farmers. The Congress is also mulling the idea of a single GST to woo traders.
But other than headlines and in manifestos, farmers and businessmen have reached the top of another list - the occupation of candidates contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
According to data provided by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and treated by Trivedi Centre for Political Data (TCPD) of Ashoka University, India Today's Data Intelligence Unit (DIU) has found that around 24 per cent of the total candidates contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls have put 'agriculture' as their occupation on their affidavits.
After agriculture, comes 'business', which around 17 per cent candidates have mentioned as their occupation. This is followed by 'social work' (7.3 per cent), 'advocate' (5.4 per cent), 'employee' (4.2 per cent) and 'daily wage labour' (3.5 per cent).
There were more than 200 contestants (3 per cent) who marked themselves as 'unemployed' in their affidavits. The number of retirees was also high. Around 300 (4.2 per cent) candidates marked themselves as 'retired' in their occupation status.
Why agriculturalists and businessmen are on top?
Dr Gilles Vernier, co-director of TCPD and assistant professor of political science at Ashoka University, believes that though most candidates this time have agricultural backgrounds, there is a structural shift that is taking place in the nature of the profession of candidates.
"Historically speaking, agriculture was the profession of almost half the candidates. It has now reduced to one-fourth, which is a big change," Vernier said.
"The rising occupations have been connected to business, which is an indicator of deep social, economic and political transformations. In the old days, the three resources you needed to win an election were an upper caste status, land and a Congress ticket. Now, you need numerical strength of your caste, capital that mostly business activities can provide, and a strong party ticket. Land remains important but less than before," Vernier said.
According to Vernier, the fact that more and more businessmen are contesting elections has also increased the cost of the same, thus, raising the barriers to enter politics.
"Businessmen are more likely to bear the astronomical cost of political entry. Nearly every other economic activity is more remunerative than agriculture, and therefore, it is not surprising to see a rise of businessmen in politics. They also have incentives to invest in politics - status, political connections, access to contracts and resources, protection from the state and so forth. Getting in politics is often a means to further private interests," Vernier said.
Where do most agriculturalists and businessmen come from?
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded the maximum number of candidates from the agrarian community - 70. The BJP is followed by Congress (66), BSP (56), PSP Lohia (24), Bahujan Mukti Party (18) and Shiv Sena (15).
Profession-wise, most incumbent candidates had mentioned 'agriculture' as their occupation - 85. Among the other incumbent candidates, 39 were in 'politics', 30 were in 'social work', 28 in 'business' and 11 in 'advocate' category.
Among the states, Chhattisgarh has the maximum percentage of contestants with 'agriculture' as their profession - 32 per cent. Other states with higher percentage of agriculturalists are Telangana (23.7 per cent), Bihar (20.45 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (20.32 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (19.6 per cent), Rajasthan (18.8 per cent) and Jharkhand (18.34 per cent).
The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party tops the chart in launching businessmen into electoral politics. The BSP has given tickets to 85 businessmen, followed by BJP and Congress, both of which have fielded 68 candidates from the community.
Housewives too make the fray
It was recently reported that the number of women contesting the elections has increased and even in electoral politics, they are breaking stereotypes.
DIU has found 120 'housewives' in the candidate list. The highest number came from Tamil Nadu (18), followed by Uttar Pradesh (16), Maharashtra (15) and Andhra Pradesh (10).