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New breed of educated candidates win UP village polls

Last Updated 14 December 2015, 18:57 IST

The Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls results have shown emergence of a new breed of highly qualified village politicians.

According to reports, a large number of winners for the posts of ‘pradhan’ (village panchayat chief) possessed research degree or software engineers and management professionals besides post graduates. The winners also included many young men and women, who had taken a plunge into electoral politics after quitting lucrative jobs in multi-national corporations in metro cities across the country.

The electorate of Churra Murra village in Gonda district elected a PhD degree holder as their ‘pradhan’ while an MTech degree holder had been declared elected from Gopalpur village in Sultanpur district.

Rizwan Ahmed, who had contested for the ‘pradhan’ post from Sigharwa village in Lucknow district and holds a BTech degree, after quitting a lucrative job at a multi-national company, was also among the winners.

According to the state election commission a large number of youngsters had been elected as ‘pradhans’ this time. In all, over 58,000 village pradhans have been elected. Around 35 per cent of the winners are women, sources said.

Social activists hailed the emergence of highly educated breed of politicians at the village level and hoped that they would use their expertise in ensuring development of villages.

“It is a healthy sign...entry of educated people into village politics is welcome...we can expect development of villages,” said Prof Dinesh Kumar, a former faculty at Lucknow University.

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(Published 14 December 2015, 18:57 IST)

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