Young India Foundation

YIF recently hosted a workshop on governance, democracy, and gerontocracy in India for Southern Oregon University’s Democracy Project. We’re grateful for professor Prakash Chendri, Cherstin Lyon, and the team for working with us to organise this. It was thrilling to speak to students from across the world who, even if not from India, can sympathise with the cause for advancing youth rights and political representation. Involving Southern Oregon University Honors College Scholars, other interested students, faculty members, and community members, the Democracy Project (DP) is a comprehensive examination of democracy around the world in the twenty-first century.

Which parties are fielding young candidates? Every party seeks the youth vote, mentions the youth in their manifestos, and attempts to mobilise the young for their cause. Which parties also put this commitment into practice? Young Indians, like most politically marginalised groups, find it difficult to get party tickets and contest on their platform. In order to work towards a more inclusive democracy, parties must implement measures to encourage higher youth participation. See how our national and regional parties are performing in youth representation for the 18th Lok Sabha.

India’s women find themselves represented by a mere 14% of parliamentarians. But the problem doesn’t begin with elections—women are hardly supported to contest elections in the first place. In the 18th Lok Sabha, we find that no state manages to cross a threshold of 30% when it comes to women’s representation. Trinamool Congress is the only major party that has fielded female candidates at a threshold even higher than that set by reservation. It is urgent to question the political barriers which prevent women from being able to represent their communities, from the grassroots to national parties. Stay tuned for more breakdowns on parliamentary representation in India.

Andhra Pradesh, did youth have their say in the elections? The average age in the Assembly is 54, while only 13% of the MLAs are women. Youngest MLA: Janasena Party's 27 year old Arava Sreedhar from Kodur Oldest MLA: Telugu Desam's 82 year old Nandyala Reddy from Proddatur Having served as Andhra's Chief Minister between 1995 and 2004 and again from 2014 to 2019, N. Chandrababu Naidu is back as the state's Chief Minister for a fourth term with his party, Telugu Desam, commanding an overwhelming majority in the state assembly.

Odisha, did youth have their say in the elections? 🗳️ The average age in the Assembly is 51, while only 7% of the MLAs are women. Youngest MLA: BJPs's 26 year old Upasna Mohapatra from Brahmagiri Oldest MLA: BJD's 80 year old Badri Patra from Ghasipura After serving as Odisha's Chief Minister for over 24 years, Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal lost the house majority in the latest elections, effectively paving the path for a Chief Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which now commands a majority in the state assembly.

We’re bringing you the most important details about the 18th Lok Sabha all in one place. This post focuses on Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal. These stats show you the share of incumbents in each state, the gender composition of all elected MPs, as well as the ages of the youngest and oldest MPs in each state. As is evident from comparing them to their states’ median ages, and even the average age of all candidates in the election, MPs tend to be much older than their constituents. In addition to continuing the trend of being heavily male-dominated, the state of our representatives skews towards being excessively old-dominated as well. Watch out for more updates regarding youth representation in the 18th Lok Sabha.

We’re bringing you the most important details about the 18th Lok Sabha all in one place. This post focuses on Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, and Rajasthan. These stats show you the share of incumbents in each state, the gender composition of all elected MPs, as well as the ages of the youngest and oldest MPs in each state. As is evident from comparing them to their states’ median ages, and even the average age of all candidates in the election, MPs tend to be much older than their constituents. In addition to continuing the trend of being heavily male-dominated, the state of our representatives skews towards being excessively old-dominated as well. Watch out for more updates regarding youth representation in the 18th Lok Sabha.

We’re bringing you the most important details about the 18th Lok Sabha all in one place. This post focuses on Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, and Kerala. These stats show you the share of incumbents in each state, the gender composition of all elected MPs, as well as the ages of the youngest and oldest MPs in each state. As is evident from comparing them to their states’ median ages, and even the average age of all candidates in the election, MPs tend to be much older than their constituents. In addition to continuing the trend of being heavily male-dominated, the state of our representatives skews towards being excessively old-dominated as well. Watch out for more updates regarding youth representation in the 18th Lok Sabha.

We’re bringing you the most important details about the 18th Lok Sabha all in one place. These stats show you the level of anti-incumbency votes in each state, the gender composition of all elected MPs, as well as the ages of the youngest and oldest MPs in each state. As is evident from comparing them to their states’ median ages, and even the average age of all candidates in the election, MPs tend to be much older than their constituents. In addition to continuing the trend of being heavily male-dominated, the state of our representatives skews towards being excessively old-dominated as well. Watch out for more updates regarding youth representation in the 18th Lok Sabha.

YIF is doing live, granular, and urgent analysis on the state of youth representation in the 18th Lok Sabha 🚨🏛 The most youthful MPs from various single-constituency states are as young as 73 in some, with a decades-long gap in others. In our state-wise analysis, we observe that young people fare high rates in contestation, but see significant losses when it comes to being elected. Are young people not voting for the youth—or is there very few youth to vote for in the first place? What do you think makes parties averse to giving young candidates tickets? What is the future of youth representation given these trends from results today? YIF will bring you as many answers as we do questions. Watch this space to keep up with candidate analysis all the way to the constituency level.