Gender, Money, Criminal Profile of the 15th Lok Sabha

Some quick numbers from The Telegraph (numbers in bold have been added):

The 15th Lok Sabha will have 46 women [8.5 % (or) about 1 in 12], the second highest after the 13th Lok Sabha’s 49 [9.0 %]. Uttar Pradesh elected 12 women, and Bengal and Andhra Pradesh six each. Only 556 of the 8,070 candidates (6.9 per cent) were women, but they had an 8 per cent success rate (one in 12 won) compared with 6.5 per cent for the men.

Some 300 of the new MPs are crorepatis compared with the previous House’s 154, shows an analysis by civil society group Association for Democratic Reforms. Economically backward Uttar Pradesh has thrown up 52 of them, followed by Maharashtra (37), Andhra (31) and Karnataka (25). The Congress accounts for 138 and the BJP for 58. Four own more than Rs 100 crore. Telugu Desam’s Nama Nageswara Rao, who defeated Renuka Chowdhury, is the richest at Rs 173 crore, followed by Naveen Jindal (Congress).

Some 150 of the new MPs — more than one in four — face one or more criminal cases, compared with 128 in 2004. Some 73 are charged with serious offences. The BJP has 42 such MPs, followed by the Congress (41). Among states, UP tops with 31, followed by Maharashtra at 23. Eight face at least 10 cases. Those with five or more cases include Varun Gandhi and Tapas Pal.