20 May,2009 09:22 AM IST | | Surender Sharma
176 doctorate degree holders were in poll fray. Only 23 won. Did we talk about a change in the system?
He may have cribbed and cried about the crass, pan-chewing, filmi dialogue-delivering thug neta and yearned for a desi Obama, but on D-day, Pappu rejected the educated brigade. Especially those armed with doctorate degrees.
That's what the results of the 15th Lok Sabha polls seem to be pointing at. Among the 176 candidates with doctorate degrees who contested the elections, only 23 won.
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In Delhi, P L Premi, a PhD holder, representative of a small party from the Chandni Chowk constituency, made it to the record books with the lowest number of votes (186) in the Capital.
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It was the same everywhere where candidates with doctorate degrees like Rita Bahuguna Joshi of the Congress, Jagdish Mukhi and Kirit Somaiya of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Leo Rebello of a regional party from Maharashtra and Independent candidate Mallika Sarabhai could bag very few votes despite their almost-perfect profiles.
Even graduates lost it!
Not only the highly intellectual PhD holder, the voter rejected even graduates in professional courses.
A study done by an NGO, National Election Watch (NEW), has revealed there were 543 candidates with graduate degrees in professional courses in the poll fray, including practicing doctors, MBAs and engineers, but only 84 could make it to the Lok Sabha.
Even regular graduates were rejected. Out of 1,473 such candidates, only 154 could get the mandate. Even "showcase" candidates like Meera Sanyal, the banker from Mumbai, and the much-talked about representative of Youth for Equality, Major Sangeeta Tomar, fell short of the voter's expectations.
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"Winning an election is easier for those who are already in politics. Voters understand their language and are easily convinced. It is very difficult for an outsider to persuade voters to vote. Even educated voters prefer to listen to the traditional neta," said Major Tomar.
Maj Tomar might have defeated hundreds of ticket-seekers to represent Youth for Equality, the torch-bearer of politics of the young and educated but she was shown the door by the electorate.
Though she was selected by a jury of successful working professionals and members of Delhi RWAs and defeated fellow aspirants in a highly intellectual, US presidential election-type debate, she failed to address voters' day-to-day problems.
"I did not get enough time to be with people. I hardly had 12 to 15 days to interact with them and understand their problems.
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There are certain loopholes in the election process as well which worked against me. For example, symbols should be allotted two to three months before the elections and the big political parties should not get prominence on EVMs," Tomar said.
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Knowledge, not degree
Another PhD candidate, the BJP man from West Delhi, Jagdish Mukhi, felt that an educational degree is not a must to serve people.
"A doctorate degree is not a criterion to be a successful leader. The biggest challenge is to meet people's expectations. A true leader has to be knowledgeable, not necessarily a university topper," Mukhi said.
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Social scientist Shiv Vishwanathan agreed. "Why should a PhD guarantee political success? A politician needs to be with his voters and work for them over a period of time.
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A degree will not give him instant political experience. Also, such a degree can be a burden on a politician as he may have to spend years to get it," said Vishwanathan.
For big guns, marks don't matter
Interestingly, while degrees did not up the winning quotient of Independent candidates or those from not-so-well-known parties, for aspirants representing national parties, it did not make much difference.
Former UN under secretary general Shashi Tharoor has won on a Congress ticket from Thiruvananthapuram.
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"Political parties distribute tickets judging the winnability of a candidate. They also go by other factors like a probable candidate's service to the people. A degree is just an added qualification," said BJP strategist Sudheendra Kulkarni.
CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat felt a candidate is judged mostly on the basis of the party he/she represents. And his or her personal educational profile doesn't matter much.
"Our polling system is party based. The fate of a candidate depends more on his/her political affiliation. It is difficult for Independents to succeed," said Karat.
Educated losers
Mallika Sarabhai (Ind) Gujarat
Leo Rebello (BBM) Mumbai
Kirit Somaiya (BJP) Mumbai
Jagdish Mukhi (BJP) Delhi
Rita Bahuguna Joshi (Congress) UP
Doctorates and winners
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD) Bihar
Girija Vyas (Congress) Rajasthan
Murli Manohar Joshi (BJP) UP
Pranab Mukherjee (Congress) WB
Marks don't make a Neta
Total candidates in poll fray
8,070
Candidates with PhDs
176
Won: 23
Graduates
1,473
Won: 154
Graduates in professional courses
545
Won: 84
