Recent elections to the five graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies of the Maharashtra Legislative Council recorded 46,684 invalid votes. The figure invites a question. The Constitution provided for these constituencies believing that the groups they represent would bring particular experience and knowledge to the Upper House. But does the number of invalid votes call into question whether a degree necessarily translates into the ability to understand voting instructions? After all, a degree’s absence does not imply an inability to do so. The deeper irony lies in retaining a special electorate on the basis of academic qualifications without establishing whether these are reliable indicators of the maturity, judgement and basic electoral understanding expected of such voters.