Grey heads? Sonia Gandhi, Ambika Soni, Sushma Swaraj

New Delhi, March 3: The old are not making way for the young — at least in Parliament.

According to statistics, the average age of Lok Sabha members has gone up from 46.5 to 55.5 since the first general elections in 1952.

The intervening years have seen a fall in the number of members between 25 and 35, though all parties have been harping on the need to infuse fresh blood and create a second rung of leadership.

A recent study published by the Lok Sabha secretariat talks about “a gradual improvement” in the “concentration” of members belonging to the 76-85 age group.

“This group,” the study adds, “did not find any representation in the first and second Lok Sabhas in 1952 and 1957.”

The ruling BJP’s top two leaders are close to 80.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is 79, while his deputy, L.K. Advani, is a year younger than him.

The second line of leadership includes Venkaiah Naidu, Pramod Mahajan, both are 55; Sushma Swaraj, 54, and Arun Jaitley, 50. The youngest BJP MP is 35-year-old Shahnawaz Hussain.

On the other side of the fence, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is 57, while old timers like Manmohan Singh and Arjun Singh are nearing 70.

Next to them come Ambika Soni, 60, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, 55, and Ahmed Patel, 50. The youngest Lok Sabha MP is 30-year-old Jyotiraditya Scindia. Soni and Patel are members of the Rajya Sabha.

If the age profile of the 13th Lok Sabha suggests that grey heads are snuffing out the challenge of the young, the 12th Lok Sabha, in 1998-99, had the youngest representation — 46.4 years being the average age of MPs.

So, what has contributed to the rise in the age profile, even if one takes into account the five years that have passed since?

Political analyst Yogendra Yadav says that while political movements have the potential to spawn young leaders, stagnation and absence of new socio-economic churnings tend to freeze the age profile.

So far, the oldest member of Parliament has been 89-year-old .G. Ranga of the Congress.