More than 35 per cent of the candidates contesting the Delhi municipal polls are at least graduate while four per cent are “illiterate”, according to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Saturday.

A total of 1,349 candidates are contesting the December 4 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls.

Of them, 1,336 candidates’ self-sworn affidavits were analysed by the ADR and Delhi Election Watch. The ADR was not able to analyse the particulars of the 13 remaining candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or complete affidavits were not uploaded on the State Election Commission’s (SEC) website.

As many as 752 (56 per cent) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between Classes 5 and 12, according to the report.

“While 487 (36 per cent) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above, 12 candidates are diploma holders,” the report said.

“Twenty-two candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 60 candidates are illiterates. Three candidates have not given their educational qualification,” it added.

The high-stakes MCD election is being seen as a three-cornered contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Among the candidates, 55 per cent are aged between 41 and 60 years. At least 5 per cent of the candidates have declared their age to be between 61 and 80 years, according to the report.

“Five-hundred and ten (38 per cent) candidates have declared their age to be between 21 and 40 years while 741 (55 per cent) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 and 60 years. There are 73 (5 per cent) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 and 80 years and 12 candidates have not declared their age,” the report said.