NEW DELHI: Only 9 percent of women candidates are in the fray for the Gujarat Assembly polls. However, this is 2 percent higher than in 2017.
The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases on December 1 and 5, while the counting of votes will be taken up on December 5.
Incidentally, women's participation has gone up as compared to the 2017 Assembly polls. This time, a total of 138 (9 percent) female candidates are contesting the elections, as compared to 122 (7 percent) in 2017, a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Tuesday.
BJP has fielded 9 percent women candidates, whereas Congress and AAP have fielded 7 percent and 4 percent women candidates respectively in Gujarat polls.
As per the report, 997 (62 percent) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th standard, while 449 (28 percent) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above.
The report said that 48 candidates are Diploma holders and 85 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate while 42 candidates are illiterate.
Similarly, 561 (35 percent) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 40 years, while 861 (53 percent) candidates are aged between 41 and 60 years.
There are 197 (12 percent) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 and 80 years, while two candidates are aged above 80 years.