New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS): Political parties are relying largely on male candidates in the Gujarat Assembly polls as only 9 per cent women candidates are in the fray this time.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases on December 1 and 5, while the counting of votes will be taken up on December 5.

Incidentally, the women participation has gone up as compared to the 2017 Assembly polls. This time, a total of 138 (9 per cent) female candidates are contesting the elections, as compared to 122 (7 per cent) in 2017out , a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Tuesday.

BJP has fielded 9 per cent women candidates, whereas Congress and AAP have fielded 7 per cent and 4 per cent women candidates in Gujarat polls, respectively.

As per the report, 997 (62 per cent) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th standard, while 449 (28 per cent) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above.

The report said that 48 candidates are Diploma holders and 85 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate while 42 candidates are illiterate.

Similarly, 561 (35 per cent) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 40 years, while 861 (53 per cent) candidates are aged between 41 and 60 years.

There are 197 (12 per cent) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 and 80 years, while two candidates are aged above 80 years.