KEY TAKEAWAYS

Two clusters of seats in Trichy, TN, and coastal Andhra Pradesh vote older than rest of southern India In 16 seats in Bihar and UP, under-40 candidates have won at least a quarter of the elections since 2008 But this success may not be a reflection of a younger demographic but of dynastic politics reflection of people there expressing a preference for someone closer to them in age and who understands their priorities.

But in some cases in this region, the success of candidates under 40 may be less a reflection of a demographic shift and more an expression of dynastic politics. For example, some of the under40s who’ve won elections here are sons and daughters of prominent politicians and may have skewed the figures to an extent.

Examples are Chirag Kumar Paswan, 36, (son of Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan), elected to the Lok Sabha from Bihar’s Jamui; Tej Pratap Yadav, 30, MLA from Bihar’s Mahua; and 29-year-old Tejashwi Yadav, MLA from Bihar’s Raghopur. Tej Pratap and Tejashwi are sons of RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav.

These exceptions aside, the larger demographic shift cannot be denied and this trend in the northern states towards the young is set to continue for a while and, as a result, we could see a rise in the numbers of young MPS and MLAS from there. From Kerala and the rest of the slowly ageing South, not so much.