Educated, youth top Gujarat civic poll lists

With the final date for filing of nominations for the civic polls in the state ending on Saturday, it has become clear that both the BJP and the Congress have given preference to the young and the well-educated  for the civic polls in city.

The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC), which released the party's list of 192 candidates for Ahmedabad's 64 wards, claimed that 92 of its candidates were below 45 years of age. Similarly, out of total 192 candidates for the polls in the city announced by the BJP, 137 are 45 years old, or less.

The two parties are almost evenly balanced even in giving preference to highly-educated candidates over matriculates or less educated party hopefuls.

Around 100 candidates in the Congress's list are graduates, including people with PhDs and even professional degrees. Only 92 candidates are just matriculates. This is in stark contrast to the party's profile in the current AMC where very few Congress corporators have high educational qualifications.

In the BJP list of 192, there are 80 graduates, many of whom have advanced degrees. The group of 80 in the BJP list includes lawyers, teachers, engineers, doctors and one chartered accountant. The rest 112 candidates do not have a college degree.

Even in Surat, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Vadodara, the BJP has shown the same preference for young and highly educated candidates in its list for the civic polls in these cities. In Vadodara, nearly 60% of the total candidates in the BJP list are graduates or people with higher qualifications.

Speaking for the Congress, former deputy chief minister Narhari Amin, said: "In selecting candidates for the upcoming civic polls, we have given preference to relatively young and well-educated candidates. We have also shown a preference for new faces."
The total number of nominations filed for the 192 seats in the 64 wards of Ahmedabad is 1909. On Saturday (the last day for filing of nominations), 1,365 nominations were filed in the city.