None of the government's official candidates made their way into the final list of the newly elected academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the Beijing Morning Post reported Friday.

A total of 54 prominent scientists out of 485 candidates were elected to the CAE after three rounds of reviews. Not one of themn are, or have been, government officials, but three of them are senior managers of companies, according to a name list released Thursday.

"We treat all candidates equally, no matter if they are senior officials, senior managers or ordinary scientists," said Xu Rigan, Vice President of the CAE, adding that the academy valued a candidate's academic achievement most in the screening process.

CAE academician elections are held every second year. The candidacy of a number of senior officials and senior managers earlier this year drew wide media attention.