A look back at how general elections in India have turned into something of a spectacle, in numbers that no other democracy can match

1. | nation |
H I NDUSTAN T I M ES , N EW D E L H I
T U ESDAY, FE B RUA RY 2 5 , 2 0 14
myindiamyvote
LOK SABHA IN RETROSPECT
HALL OF FAME
STAR MPs IN THE 15TH LOK SABHA
9 terms elected
GRAND SHOW
Basudeb Acharia, 72,
CPI(M), Bankura,
West Bengal
ida
te
s
1962
5
1,
51
9
542
7
8
9
542
543
11
12
2004
543
543
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7
49.4
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5
48.7
84
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5
39
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4
4,62
9
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5,312
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6,160
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2,7
2,4
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II
II
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10
49.9
51.4
51.3
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13,592
14
15
543
54
3
= 1 Delhi-Kolkata Rajdhani
has 18 coaches
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8
46.4
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8
55.5
4,750
543
3,060 coaches
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52.8
8,668
8
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35
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4,64
5,4
52.63
8,0
70
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58
21
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5
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• = 1 sortie during 2009 election
• = 1 sortie during 2013
School dropouts
Matriculates/
Undergraduates
Uttarakhand flood
VOTERS
2009 saw about
45 million voters
(about 1%) more
than the previous
election in 2004
71,69,85,101
Male 37,47,58,801
Female 34,22,26,300
No. of voters
Parliamentary
Constituencies
543
K H Muniyappa, 66
INC Kolar, Karnataka
Maneka Gandhi, 58
BJP Aonla, Uttar Pradesh
10.45
62.2%
5.9
55.42%
7.32
61.33%
10.79
55.29%
11.6
60.49%
23
56.92%
54.7
63.56%
81.5
Lowest no. of
voters
45,983
in Lakshadweep
Highest no. of
voters
11,60,06,374
in Uttar Pradesh
VOTER TURNOUT
All India
58.19%.
Congress
suffers
setbacks, but
retains power
Indira Gandhi
takes charge
with ‘Garibi
Hatao’ slogan
1st nonCongress govt
formed after
Emergency
Congress
returns after
Janata Party
disbands
Indira assassinated, son
Rajiv takes
power
359.1
597.3
Congress
suffers worst
defeat, term
sees 3 PMs
666.2
BJP emerges
stronger,
A B Vajpayee
becomes PM
57.94%
61.97%
59.99%
880
BJP wins
again, EVMs
used for the
1st time
1300
Congress
wrests power
by forming
UPA coalition
1114
UPA retains
power with
Manmohan
Singh as PM
57.65%
58.19%
Graduates
Postgraduates
Doctorates
= `10 crore
(* not adjusted for inflation)
MOST EXPENSIVE STATES/UTs*
8,070
Male candidates 7,514
Female candidates 556
`30cr
Candidates contested
Dadra & Nagar
Haveli for
1 constituency
`15.11cr
Arunachal
Pradesh
(`30.22cr for 2
constituencies)
`11cr
Mizoram for
`6.9cr
1 constituency
Assam
(`97cr for 14
constituencies)
93.1%
Lowest no. of
candidates
3 Kokrajhar in Assam,
and Nagaland constituencies
146 won
out of 394 candidates
fielded by state parties.
9 won out of
3831 independent
candidates.
Maximum 90.32%
Tamluk in West Bengal
`5.5cr
Tripura
(`11cr for
2 constituencies)
LEAST EXPENSIVE STATES/UTs*
`0.5cr
Daman & Diu
(`1cr for 2 constituencies)
`0.4cr
`0.29cr
Himachal
Pradesh
(`1.18cr for
5 constituencies)
Maximum 8,32,224
C M CHANG in Nagaland
*Costs incurred
by Election
Commission per
constituency
Uttarakhand
(`2cr for
VOTES P OLLED BY A CANDIDATE
Minimum 25.55%
Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir
Jawaharlal
Nehru
becomes PM
for 3rd time
Rajiv killed,
Congress
comes back to
power
56.93%
out of 1623 candidates
fielded by national
parties.
47.7%
CPI emerges
as India’s
biggest
opposition
154.2
6.9%
Highest no.
of candidates
43 in Chennai
South constituency
Congress wins
a landslide;
nearest rival
gets 12 seats
Hung Parliament, BJP &
United Front in
power melee
61.95%
376 won
52.3%
Cost of conducting
an election (in ` crore)*
61.2%
CANDIDATES
2009 also saw an
increase in competition — 2,535 more
candidates than in
the 2004 election
Won successive elections from 1971
to 2004 in the Bolepur constituency in
West Bengal. He faced his only defeat in
1984 against Mamata Banerjee from the
Jadavpur constituency
Mohan Chinta, 60
INC Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
Voter turnout
112
88
177
85
15
120
90
160
92
9
141
87
157
98
7
54
101
172
113
17
119
82
178
127
8
62
132
207
132
9
53
118
213
136
8
42
112
238
131
10
10
94
233
124
17
18
101
220
145
20
15
102
222
149
29
12
107
237
149
24
15
90
256
145
27
19
96
249
157
22
18
95
253
141
23
19
••••••••••••
••••••••••••
••••••••••••
••••••••••••
••
543
13
2009
46.7
IIII
III
III
III
III
III
51.4
10
1998
69
2,3
542
1999
For the 2009 election
55 helicopters
were deployed to perform 600
sorties
In 2013, 28 helicopters performed
90 sorties to rescue people
in flooded Uttarakhand
8
51
6
1996
= 170 Rajdhani
Express trains
0
52
4
1991
(more than
half of
Everest)
4
49
3
1984
AuleyPhu
15,300 ft
1,8
74
an
d
To
ta
lc
1957
2
1989
Auleyphu
ea
ts
48
9
1
49
4
1951
1980
Central police forces
for 2009 election travelled
in 119 special trains, comprising
3,060 coaches
5
98
1,
1971
Mt. Everest
29,029 ft
To
ta
ls
NUMBER
CRUNCH
Educational
background of Lok
Poll duration (days) Sabha members
Somnath
Chatterjee
84, Former CPI
(M) leader
Ramesh Bais, 67
BJP Raipur, Chhattisgarh
Sai Prathap Annayyagari, 70
INC Rajampet, Andhra Pradesh
46.5
••••••••••••
••••••••••••
••••••••••••
•••••••••••
Biren Singh Engti, 69
INC Autonomous District,
Assam
Bijoy Krishna Handique, 80
INC Jorhat, Assam
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
124
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
••••••••••••
••••••••••••
•••••••••••
The only politician who has won from
six different Lok Sabha constituencies
in four different states — Delhi, UP,
MP and Gujarat — from 1957 to 2004
6
Lal Krishna Advani, 87
BJP Gandhinagar, Gujarat
temwar, 65, INC,
Nagpur, Maharashtra
1977
JAMMU & KASHMIR
6 terms elected
Sumitra Mahajan, 71,
BJP Indore,
Madhya Pradesh
Avg MP age
••••••••••••
Atal Bihari
Vajpayee
89, BJP
7
E Ahamed, 76
IUML Malappuram, Kerala
Harin Pathak, 67, BJP
Ahmedabad East, Gujarat Ajit Singh, 75
RLD Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh
Vilas Baburao Mut-
1967
Highest polling station
in 2009: AuleyPhu (Leh)
STAR
MPS
8
7 terms elected
P Chidambaram, 69, INC
Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu
POLL BYTES
9
elected
Kamal Nath, 68,
INC, Chhindwara
(Madhya Pradesh)
Shibu Soren, 70, JMM
Dumka, Jharkhand
Research: M Ramakrishnan
Graphic: Malay Karmakar
8 terms
Arjun Charan Sethi, 73,
BJD Bhadrak, Odisha
Prashant Jha
10 terms elected
10
Manikrao Hodlya Gavit, 80,
INC, Nandurbar,
Maharashtra
RULES OF DEMOCRACY:
65 YEARS AND GOING
There is no greater democratic spectacle than elections.
Each Indian election, bigger and larger in scale than the
preceding one, is the grandest experiment the world has
in representative politics.
The 16th Lok Sabha elections come at a crucial time in
the country’s history The happy India story – of a coun.
try on the upswing, with high growth rates and a huge
middle class, feted as the next superpower – has hit the
pause button. Democratic institutions are suffering from
a crisis of credibility Growth rates are down, employ.
ment generation is limited, and uncomfortable questions
about cosy politician-businessman networks are out in
the open. Indian industry is unhappy, but so are civil
society groups who believe not enough has been done to
tackle inequality and corruption.
The nature of the contenders makes this an even more
significant election. On one hand is a tottering ruling
party, unable to reach out to the common citizen. On
the other is an opposition led by a ‘strongman’, whose
commitment to the secular character of the state is
questioned. Besides the regional outfits, there is also an
emerging political force that taps into the anti-establishment sentiment, but it has not yet laid out its prescription for the future.
Which way will Indian voters go? Who will govern
India for the next five years? As the electorate prepares
to answer those questions, HT takes a look back at India’s
electoral history
.
11
Minimum 118
RAJA L D in Chennai South
4 constituencies)
`0.2cr
`0.13cr
Rajasthan (`5.07cr Kerala (`2.57cr for
for 25 constituencies)
20 constituencies)