For Gen Z and under 40, to be MP or MLA, it helps to be Gen D — a dynast

For Gen Z and under 40, to be MP or MLA, it helps to be Gen D – a dynast The youth may be finding their voice on the streets, but in politics, representation remains limited – and often runs in the family.

Key points

• 8 min read New Delhi Aug 27, 2026 06: 00 AM IST First published on: Aug 27, 2026 at 06: 00 AM IST.
• * Samjwadi Party's (SP) Aditya (38) and Akshay Yadav (39), nephews of former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav and cousins of party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
• Roy's son Balajied Kupar Synrem, 38, is a United Democratic Party MLA and Miani Shira, 36, is a TMC legislator.
• * Karan Bhushan Singh (35), the son of former Wrestling Federation of India chief and ex-MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
• * Rashtriya Lok Dal's (RLD) Chandan Chauhan (37), grandson of UP's first Deputy Chief Minister Narayan Singh.

In practice, the youth may be finding their voice on the streets, but in politics, representation remains limited. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal). Written by: Anjishnu Das.

Gen Z politics, youth representation India, political dynasties India, young MPs India, young MLAs India, Lok Sabha MPs under 40, dynastic politics, Gen Z legislators, political families India, youth in Indian politics, women MPs India, state Assembly MLAs.

Jantar Mantar, Ranchi, and now Patna. Youth in different parts of the country have been on the streets since last month, making themselves heard and compelling political parties – from the BJP to the Congress – to reach out to them. When it comes to political representation for the youth, the road ahead remains arduous and an analysis by The Indian Express indicates that even when you are young, it helps to be a political dynast, nevertheless.

* Gen Z – defined as those born between 1997 and 2012, or in the 14-29 age band – have only 26 legislators in Parliament and state Assemblies, indicated an analysis by The Indian Express published on August 5.

* Half of them, or 13, are political dynasts. While five of the six Gen Z Lok Sabha MPs are dynasts, 8 of the 20 MLAs from this age group come from a political background, the latest analysis demonstrates.

* Since the minimum age to contest elections is 25, a major chunk of the Gen Z demographic cannot contest elections. But even among those who are 40 years old or younger, 37.8% (145 of 384) are dynasts. Those aged 40 and under, or those born in 1986 or afterwards, account for a projected 65.4%, or 93.3 crore, of the 2026 projected population figures.

* The BJP has nine Lok Sabha MPs, out of 240, in the under-40 age bracket. Of them, five are dynasts. Out of the Congress's 98 MPs, seven are in the under-40 bracket and four are dynasts. Similarly, seven of the Samajwadi Party's 37 Lok Sabha MPs are in this category and six of them are dynasts. Four of the Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) 16 MPs are under 40 and all of them are dynasts.

* The BJP, which is in power in 22 states and Union Territories either directly or as part of an alliance, has 1, 811 MLAs. Out of them, 121 are in the 40-and-under age bracket and 41 are from political families. The Congress, whose political footprint has shrunk over recent years and is now in power in four states directly and in one in alliance, has 662 MLAs in total. Of these state legislators, 52 are in the 40-and-under bracket and 23 are dynasts.

In the Lok Sabha, 40 MPs are 40 years old or younger, including the six Gen Z parliamentarians. While five of the six Gen Z MPs are dynasts, 19 of the 34 MPs in the 30-40 age bracket come from political families. Some of the notable MPs among them are. * Abhishek Banerjee (38), nephew of Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee.

* Yaduveer Wadiyar (34), a BJP MP from the erstwhile royal family of Mysore and adoptive son of ex-MP Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar.

* Raksha Khadse (39), daughter-in-law of former BJP Cabinet minister in Maharashtra Eknath Khadse.

* Congress's Priyanka Jarkiholi (29), daughter of Karnataka minister Satish Jarkiholi and member of the prominent Jarkiholi political family.

* Shiv Sena's Shrikant Shinde, son of party chief and Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde.

* Telugu Desam Party (TDP)'s G M Harish Balayogi (35), son of former Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi.

* Bharat Mathukumilli (37), grandson of ex-MPs and a son-in-law in the prominent Nandamuri-Nara film and political family in Andhra Pradesh.

* SP's Pushpendra Saroj (27) from Kaushambi and Priya Saroj (27) from Machhlishahr in UP.

* Congress's Sagar Khandre (28) from Bidar and Priyanka Satish Jarkiholi (29) from Chikkodi in Karnataka, and Sanjna Jatav (28) from Bharatpur in Rajasthan. * LJP (Ram Vilas)'s Shambhavi Choudhary (28) from Samastipur in Bihar.

This group of 40 MPs additionally includes 11 women, or 27.5%, well above the share of women throughout the entire Lok Sabha at 14%. Eight of them are dynasts.

Throughout the 31 legislative Assemblies, 344 MLAs are aged 40 or younger. Of them, 121, or 35.2%, are dynasts. The MLAs aged 40 and under account for 8.3% of India's total 4, 131 MLAs.

Only three states do not have any MLAs aged 40 or younger and another two do not have any such MLAs from a political background. While in 21 states, a majority of these younger legislators have no direct political connections, in seven states, there are more dynastic MLAs than those with no political background in the 40-and-younger bracket.

Notably, the highest share of MLAs from political families in this age band is in Odisha, where 14 of 16 such MLAs have direct political connections. The next most dynastic states in this age group are Maharashtra (12 of 16), Uttar Pradesh (23 of 32), and Karnataka and Haryana (five of nine).

States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal. It went to polls earlier this year, are notable outliers for having a sizable number of MLAs aged 40 and under, but only a handful who are dynasts. While of West Bengal's 45 MLAs aged 40 and younger, just five are from political families, just three of Tamil Nadu's 47 MLAs in this age bracket are dynasts. In Kerala, 16 such MLAs include just 1 from a political family. Similarly, Punjab has just one dynastic legislator among 12 MLAs aged 40 or under.

As a share of the Assembly strength, Tamil Nadu has the most MLAs aged 40 or under at 20.1%, followed by Meghalaya at 18.3%, West Bengal at 15.3%, Bihar at 13.2%, and Kerala at 11.4%. In 16 states, MLAs aged 40 and under account for less than 10% of the Assembly strength. Some of the notable MLAs aged 40 or under are.

* In Bihar, 36-year-old Tejashwi Yadav is the de facto leader of the RJD that was founded by his father and ex-CM Lalu Prasad.

While MLA Arjun Chautala, 34, of the Indian National Lok Dal is the grandson of ex-CM O P Chautala, * In Haryana, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala's son Aditya, 27, is the state's only Gen Z MLA.

* In Himachal Pradesh, Cabinet minister Vikramaditya Singh, 36, is the son of ex-CM Virbhadra Singh and former state Congress chief Pratibha Singh.

* Among the BJP's Jammu & Kashmir MLAs is Devyani Rana, 31, niece of Union minister Jitendra Singh and daughter of ex-MLA Devender Rana. This person earlier represented her Nagrota seat.

* In Madhya Pradesh, former CM Digvijaya Singh's son Jaivardhan Singh, 40, has been a Congress MLA for over a decade and served as a minister in the short-lived Kamal Nath administration; Congress MLA Abhijeet Shah, 34, belongs to the erstwhile Makrai royal family with ties to both the BJP and Congress.

* In Maharashtra, the children of ex-CMs Ashok Chavan and Uddhav Thackeray – Sreejaya Chavan, 34, of the BJP and Aaditya Thackeray, 36, of the Shiv Sena (UBT) – are both MLAs. The NCP (SP)'s Rohit Patil, 27, son of ex-Deputy CM R R Patil, is the state's only Gen Z MLA.

* In the Northeast, a number of former CMs' children are sitting MLAs, including former Manipur CM Okram Ibobi's 38-year-old son Surjakumar Okram of the Congress and the children of former Meghalaya CMs Donkupar Roy and Mukul Sangma's. Roy's son Balajied Kupar Synrem, 38, is a United Democratic Party MLA and Miani Shira, 36, is a TMC legislator. In Sikkim, 36-year-old Aditya Golay of the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha is the son of sitting CM Prem Singh Tamang.

* In Odisha, Congress veteran and state party chief Bhakta Charan Das's son Sagar Charan Das, 34, is an MLA.

While the Samajwadi Party's first family has a number of MLAs, including 38-year-old Tej Pratap Singh, * In Uttar Pradesh, Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) ex-chief Brij Bhushan's son Prateek Bhushan Singh, 38, is a BJP MLA. As is 34-year-old Abbas Ansari, whose father Mukhtar Ansari was a gangster-turned-politician who died while in prison, nishad Party founder Sanjay Nishad's son Sarvan, 36, is an MLA.

Taken together, the developments around for Gen Z and under 40, to be MP or MLA, it point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.