Youth are the driving force behind social change in any country including India. Our economy is one of the fastest growing in the world because we have the world’s largest youth population. But the fact remains despite the presence of youth wings of all major political parties, very few have been able to register their presence in national politics. An independent study shows that the proportion of MPs aged between 25 and 40 is the least ever in the 16th Lok Sabha.
The list compiled by PRS Legislative Research also found that the number of Parliamentarians that fall under this category is 47. Although the 2014 Lok Sabha elections saw the highest number of young voters ever, yet it saw the highest ever proportion of older candidates becoming MPs.
Let’s take a look at 11 young politicians of India who are MPs now:
Dushyant Chautala
Son of former MP Ajay Chautala, Dushyant became the youngest lawmaker in the history of Lok Sabha after winning the elections at the age of 26. He represents the Hisar constituency and belongs to Indian National Lok Dal party. The young MP has deep political roots. He is the grandson of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and the great grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Ch. Devi Lal. He is also the president of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), youngest ever to head any sports governing body in India.
Dr Heena Gavit
The 30-year-old BJP MP comes from a political family. Her father Dr Vijaykumar Gavit is a former NCP MLA who has now shifted allegiance to the saffron party. A doctor by profession, Heena defeated Manikrao Hodlya Gavit, a nine-time MP from Nandurbar in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. She was in the eye of storm after a Hindustan Times report said that she was handed over her MD (doctor of Medicine) degree by her alma mater JJ hospital despite the fact that she did not serve her mandatory bond service in a rural medical centre, and neither did she pay the Rs50 lakh penalty for skipping it.
Rajeshbhai Chudasama
At 32 years of age, Rajesh Chudasama became the youngest MP from Gujarat in Lok Sabha. Belonging to powerful Koli community, Chudasma defeated Chandrika Chudasama of Congress to become an MLA in the 2012 Gujarat Assembly elections.
Savitri Thakur
The 35-year-old politician is a BJP member and represents the Dhar constituency in Madhya Pradesh. She was a social worker before joining politics. She was the co-ordinator of the NGO Vashp for 9 years. In 2006, she successfully won Dhar Zila Panchayat president elections. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, she defeated her nearest Congress rival Umang Singhar by a margin of over 1 lakh votes.
Poonam Mahajan
Daughter of late BJP veteran Pramod Mahajan, Poonam represents Mumbai North Central in Lok Sabha. She made her foray into politics following her father’s murder in 2006. In 2014, she won the LS polls with a record margin of 1.86 lakh votes and defeated her nearest rival and two-time MP Priya Dutt of the Congress. The 37-year-old is also the president of Youth Wing of Bhartiya Janta Party.
Raksha Khadse
Daughter-in-law of BJP leader Eknath Khadse, Raksha is a member of the 16th Lok Sabha from the Raver constituency. Before becoming an MP, Khadse was a Sarpanch and was later elected to Jalgaon Zila Parishad. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, she defeated Manishdada Jain of Nationalist Congress Party by a huge margin of 318608 votes. At the age of 26, she along with Heena Gavit became one of the youngest MPs in Lok Sabha.
Priyanka Singh Rawat
The BJP MP from Barabanki ‘s tenure has been mired in controversy due to the appointment of her father as her representative which was against the directive issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2017, the 32-year-old MP was accused of misbehaving with officials in UP along with MLA Kesar Singh. She allegedly used foul language against ASP Kunwar Gyananjay Singh during a press conference in Barabanki. In June, she hogged media attention for tossing a plastic bottle into Saryu river in Gonda district where she had gone for an inspection of the embankment.
Abhishek Singh
Son of Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh, the 36-year-old is an MP from state’s Rajnandgaon seat. Prior to joining politics, Singh did his Bachelors in Engineering from GEC, Raipur and later completed his MBA from prestigious XLRI- Xavier School of Management. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he defeated Kamleshwar Verma of Indian National Congress by a margin of 235,911 votes. At the age of 33, he became the youngest MP in state’s history.
Chirag Paswan
The 34-year-old politician belonging to Lok Janshakti Party won the 2014 Indian general election from Jamui constituency in Bihar. He is the son of Member of Parliament and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. Prior to his entry into politics, he tried his hand in acting in films. His debut film Miley Naa Miley Hum released in 2011 bombed at box office. The young politician has a B.Tech degree in Computer Science.
Anju Bala
Youtube
Hailing from UP’s Bilgram, the BJP MP represents state’s Misrikh constituency in Lok Sabha. She has studied MA in Hindi and Sanskrit at the University of Jammu and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj University Kanpur. In the last parliamentary session, she had demanded to declare cow a national animal like Nepal arguing it will help reduce violence against the animal.
Dimple Yadav
File picture of UP CM Akhilesh Yadav with his wife Dimple
Wife of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple represents Kannauj constituency in Lok Sabha. She created a sort of history after she was elected unopposed from Kannauj in the 2012 by-election. She became the 44th person in the country and only the fourth in UP since Independence to be elected unopposed. The 39-year-old leader was educated in Pune, Bhatinda and Andaman and Nicobar island and Army Public School.
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