16th Lok Sabha: 75% MPs are graduates

About 75% of MPs in the 16th Lok Sabha have at least a graduate degree, while 10% are only matriculates.

This is slightly less than the 15th Lok Sabha in which 79% had a bachelor's degree.

At the same time, the number of MPs with just a matriculate degree has decreased to 10% from 17% in preceding Lok Sabha, according to a report by PRS Legislative Research.

The number of members with a doctoral degree has increased to 6% in 2014 polls from three% in the 15th Lok Sabha.

Interestingly, the percentage of MPs elected in the 2014 general elections who do not have a matriculate degree is significantly higher (13%) in comparison to the 15th Lok Sabha (3%).

"75% of the 543 MPs elected in the 2014 general elections have at least a graduate degree. This is slightly lesser than the 15th Lok Sabha in which 79% of MPs held at least a graduate degree," the report noted.

Also, in the 16th Lok Sabha, 27% of MPs elected have listed agriculture as their primary occupation, followed by political and social work (24%) and business (20%).

In comparison, in 2009 Lok Sabha polls, 28% MPs had listed political and social work as their occupation, 27% had listed agriculture, while 15% had listed business.

Going back to the very first Lok Sabha that was formed in 1952, the single largest occupation of members was that of lawyers (36%), followed by agriculture (22%) and business (12%).

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) crossed the 272 mark comfortably on its own, without allies, winning 282 seats.