UP Feb 14 polls: Of candidates in fray 12 are 'illiterate', 114 educated till Class 8

Among the candidates in the fray in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections' second phase, 114 are educated up to Class 8 while 12 have declared themselves to be "illiterate".

Noida: Among the candidates in the fray in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections' second phase, 114 are educated up to Class 8 while 12 have declared themselves to be "illiterate", according to an analysis report. There are also 102 'post graduate' candidates and six with Ph.D in the fray, stated the report by polls reforms advocacy groups Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Voting is scheduled for February 14 on 55 assembly seats spanning nine districts of Amroha, Bareilly, Bijnor, Budaun, Moradabad, Rampur, Saharanpur, Sambhal and Shahjahanpur in western Uttar Pradesh. The report is based on the analysis of self-sworn affidavits of 584 candidates out of 586 who are contesting the second phase elections, it stated. Affidavits of two candidates could not be analysed because they were either badly scanned or incomplete,the report said.

According to the analysis, 12 candidates are 'illiterate', 67 'literate', 12 have passed Class 5 and 35 have passed Class 8 while 58 have cleared Class 10 and 88 have cleared Class 12. There are 108 'graduate' candidates, 89 'graduate professionals', 102 'post graduate', six 'doctorate', five 'diploma' holders in the fray while two contestants have not presented their education details, it noted.

In terms of age, 56 candidates are between 25-30 years, 150 between 31-40 years, 179 between 41-50 years, 130 between 51-60 years, 62 between 61-70 years, six between 71-80 years and one contestant is aged between 81-90 years, according to the report. Of the analysed candidates in the second phase, 515 (88.2 per cent) are men and 69 (11.8 per cent) are women, the report noted. The elections in Uttar Pradesh are being held in seven phases. Election results will be announced on March 10.

PTI