Bharatiya Janata Party’s newly elected candidate from Kishtwar Shagun Parihar, 29, is the youngest member of the Legislative Assembly while National Conference veteran Abdul Rahim Rather, 80, is the oldest member, data compiled by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) reveals. Parihar, who is the victim of a terror attack in which she lost her father and unclde in 2018, is the only member of assembly below the age of 30 while Rather, the seven-time MLA from Chara-e-Sharief, is the only octogenarian in the House.
According to the data, the average age of an MLA in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is 55.71 years with 32 falling in the age bracket of 51 to 60 years.
Who are the 10 youngest MLAs?
PDP's Waheed Para (Pulwama), Aam Admi Party's Mehraj Malik (Doda), NC's Mehar Ali (Kangan), independent Rameshwar Singh (Bani) and BJP's Sunil Bharadwaj (Ramnagar) are among the 10 youngest newly-elected MLAs.
Older-most MLAs
Congress MLA from Bandipora Nizamuddin Bhat at 77 is the second oldest member followed by CPI(M)'s Kulgam MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami who is 75 years old. National Conference's (NC) Eidgah MLA Mubarak Gul aged 73, while Beerwah MLA Mohammad Shafi Wani (NC), Pattan MLA Javaid Riyaz (NC) and Anantnag MLA P M Sayeed (Congress) are all 71.
The other elected septuagenarians include NC's Hasnain Masoodi (Pampore), BJP's Surjit Slathia (Samba) and his party colleague Baldev Raj (Shri Mata Vaishno Devi).
According to ADR, 23 MLAs are between the ages of 41 and 50 years, while 22 members are in the age group of 61 to 70 years. There are six MLAs who are aged below 40, including Parihar, the first time legislator from Kishtwar seat in Jammu region.
The polls right body also found that there has been no change in the composition of the assembly in terms of gender ratio. There were three women MLAs in the last assembly which was dissolved in the 2018 elections and the number has remained unchanged this year too.
In 2014, NC's Shamima Firdous and PDP's Asiea Naqash were the only two women to get elected but PDP president Mehbooba Mufti joined them in the House after getting elected in the 2016 bypoll held after the death of her father and then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Shamima Firdous has retained her Habbakadal seat while Sakina Masood managed to regain the D H Pora seat which she had lost in 2014 elections. Debutant Parihar from Kishtwar has joined them this year.
In the poll results declared by the Election Commission on Tuesday, the alliance of the NC and Congress won 48 of the 90 Assembly seats. The BJP with 29 seats emerged as the second largest party improving its all-time high tally of 25 in 2014 elections.
(With PTI inputs)
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