Changing profile of MLAs: Businessperson, graduate, and postgraduate

Legislative Assemblies across India are ageing. More MLAs are identifying themselves as businesspersons, and their education levels are rising, too. Women representation, however, remains low

More legislators now identify themselves as “businesspersons”, an increase seen across industrialised and agrarian states alike. This shift is accompanied by rising educational attainment and ageing assemblies, but progress on gender representation remains dismal.

  In Jharkhand, the median age of members of legislative assembly (MLAs), according to data compiled by PRS  Legislative Research, rose from 43 in 2009 to 53 in 2024 (the new Assembly). The share of businesspersons climbed from 26 per cent in 2014 to 37 per cent in 2024. Women’s representation in Assembly, though at its highest yet after the November polls, remains limited to 12