Changing Socio-economic profile of MPs in Indian parliament

03 Jul Changing Socio-economic profile of MPs in Indian parliament

Posted at 03 Jul 2026 in PSIR Optional by Bijendra Jha 0 Comments

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Changing Nature of Socio-Economic Profile of the Parliament

Parliament represents the will of people of India and it reflects the nature of the society and social change. It is a mirror of the changing nature of socio-economic status in society and politics. The socio-economic profile of the Parliament is a valuable indicator of changes in society and politics.

B.L. Shankar and Valerian Rodrigues in their book “The Indian Parliament” has divided the changing profile of the Parliament in three phases, namely, 1952-67; 1967-89; and 1989-2021. Ronojay Sen in his work ‘House of the People: Parliament and Making of Democracy’ has explained the socio-economic profile of the Lok Sabha.

1952-67: Dominance of Upper caste:

Social-economic profile of the Lok Sabha were as follows:

Brahmin and Other Upper castes constituted more than 50% of MPs.
Muslim constituted 4 % of MPs
women constituted 4.4% of MPs in the first Lok Sabha which increased to 6% in the third Lok Sabha;
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes secured seats in the Lok Sabha due to reservation.
Royal dynastic families also represented in the Lok Sabha, e.g. Gayatri Devi, wife of the erstwhile Maharaj of Jaipur which won election in 1862 and 1967 election from Swatantrata Party, Vjaya Raje Scindiya families have been elected to the Lok Sabha, and minor royal or zamindars like V P Singh (Raja of Manda) who later became members of the Lok Sabha (1971-1991) and PM of India (1987-91).
The average age of MPs in the first two decades was 46.5 years.

Educational profile:

Most of them have earned law degrees and significantly from universities in the US and UK.
Mostly were English speaking people and they called themselves Swatantra Senani (Freedom fighter)

Occupation and wealth (Economic profile)

Lawyers constituted the one-third of Mps in the first Lok Sabha and it declined over the period
22.5 % of the MPs in the first Lok Sabha identified themselves as agriculturalists and their presence increased in the later Lok Sabha;
There is a jump in the category of ‘political and social workers’ which was insignificant in the first Lok Sabha but became prominent in the 1960s and 1970s.
Businessmen, traders and industrialists constituted 8-10 %, teachers and educationists and journalists and writers constituted approximately 8-10 % of the parliament. There is a significant decrease of writers and journalists in the due course of time.

Phase of Transition (1967-89): Re-organization of state, land reform, green revolution and deepening of democracy have transformed the socio-economic profile of the Parliament.

Social profile

There was a slight decrease of Brahmin and other Upper Castes MPs.
Muslim PMs increased in this period. In the 1971 election 5 % MPs were elected from Muslim community and it increased to 9% (highest) in the 1980 Lok Sabha election and which further decreased to 6 % in the 1989 election.
The percentage of OBCs has increased progressively from 12 % in the first Lok Sabha to 25 % in the Ninth Lok Sabha (1989-91). This rise of the OBCs was due to politicization of social cleavages like caste and the rise of caste-based regional parties. Yet their representation remained well below their estimated share in the population. However, the breakdown of the Congress system and the rise of the ethnic parties increased representation of OBCs in the parliament. This phenomenon was described as the ‘first democratic upsurge’ by Yogendra Yadav.
Royal family like Madharao Scindia, son of Vijaya Raje Scindia and minor royal or zamindars like V P Singh (Raja of Manda) who became members of the Lok Sabha (1971-1991) and PM of India (1987-91) represented in the Lok Sabha.
The SCs and STs were constituted in accordance with their population due to the quota system. Sikh constituted in proportion to their population but Christian and other minorities constituted less than their population.
Women representation went as low as 4% in 1977 and it increased to 8 % in 1984 and slightly dropped to 6 % in the 1989 election result.
No representation of LGBTQ communities.

Occupation and wealth (Economic profile)

There was a significant rise in two professional backgrounds, namely, agriculturalists MPs identified themselves as ‘Kissan’ (farmer), and Political and social workers.
There was a decline of legal professionals, journalists and writers. In the first Lok Sabha, 36 % MPs were from a lawyer’s background and 10 % were journalists and writers which decreased to 15 % and 2 % in the Ninth Lok Sabha (1991).

Phase of Plebeianization (1989-2024):

Social Profile of the Lok Sabha

During this phase, Indian politics witnessed the rise of caste politics especially consolidation of OBCs in Indian politics. This consolidation of OBCs led to the rise of OBCs MPs in the Lok Sabha from SP, DMK, AIA DMK, TDP, RJD, SP and other parties. They constituted approximately 26 % of MPs.
Mo. of Muslim MPs decreased to 3 % in the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-24). Under-representation of muslim in the Lok Sabha is due to dispersed geographical of Muslims in India, FPTP electoral law, gerrymandering by the Election Commission of India and exclusive politics of the BJP.
Brahmins who constituted 25 % of the Lok Sabha had declined dramatically 10 % by 2004. While the upper caste representation fell to 34 % by 2004, they resumed their number to 44.5 % in 2014 before it slightly declined to 26 % by 2024.
Over-representation of the upper caste is reflected in both national parties, the BJP and Congress. According to Jaffrelot and Vernier, 36 % of the BJP MPs and 23 % of Congress MPs were upper caste.
The percentage of SCs and STs remained in proportion to their population due to reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha.
Amongst SCs, Pasi and Jatavs MPs are dominant MPs in the Hindi belt.
The 17th Lok Sabha constituted highest women representation i.e. 14.4 % and it decreased to 13.6 % in the 18th Lok Sabha. The share of women MPs in Parliament is still much lower than the global average 24 % in 2019 and the Asian average 19 %. As many south Asian Countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan have a higher proportion of women in the Parliament at over 20 %. In fact India ranked 144th in Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Global ranking for the presence of women.
According to ECI data, both national parties the BJP and the Congress fielded almost the same number of women candidates- 55 and 45 respectively in the 2019 general election. However, two regional parties, namely, TMC and BJD have nominated 33 % of women candidates and why these parties have the highest share of women MPs in the Lok Sabha.
The average age of MPs in this period is 57 years.
Candidates from the criminal background have increased in the recent two decades. According to the Association of Democratic Reform (ADR) Report, the 15th parliament had 30% MPs with criminal background, 16th parliament had 34% of MPs with criminal background and recently 17th parliament has 43% MPs with criminal background and it increased to 46 % in the 18th Lok Sabha.

Occupation and Wealth

Lawyers who constituted a third of MPs declined to 3.5 % in the 17th Lok Sabha.
The agricultural MPs increased to 49 % by 1998. One study noted, parliament had undergone a ‘basic transfer of power from the urban middle class as represented by the legal professional to the rural agricultural class.
Another category that saw a jump is political/social workers which was insignificant in the first Lok Sabha and became prominent in the 17th Lok Sabha (35%).
Writers and authors declined significantly.
Other categories which have increased in the recent decades are business person, technocrats, CA, and management professionals. There is no surprise that there is a strong correlation between a candidate’s wealth and the likelihood of getting elected. The 17th Lok Sabha had 88% MPs who were crorepati and this percentage increased to 92 % in the 18th Lok Sabha.
Milan Vaishnav has analysed the connection between criminality and politics and why candidates with criminal antecedents get elected in such large numbers. He found that the candidate who has a criminal background has three times higher probability to win the election than the candidate who has no criminal background. According to Vaishnav, while money is the core reason (Funding) why political parties nominate candidates with criminals, voters regard politicians with criminal reputations as credible candidates to protect their interests.