Number of Candidates and Electors in Successive General Elections

Number of Candidates and Electors in Successive General Elections

In the General Elections 2014, 8251 candidates contested the elections, for which Election Commission set up 9,19,452 polling stations. The National average of voter turnout is 66.4%, Nagaland being the leading state with 87.82%.

There has been a marked increase in the total number of candidates contesting the elections. While in 1952 there were 1,874 candidates for 489 seats, the number steadily increased to 2,784 candidates in 1971. The 1980 elections saw an increase in the number of candidates to 4,629. The 9th General Elections had 6,160 candidates in the fray, while in the 10th General Elections 8,668 candidates contested for 543 seats. In the Eleventh General Elections, 13,952 candidates contested for 543 seats, which were reduced drastically to 4,750 candidates in 12th Lok Sabha, because of increase of security deposit amount in August 1996.

 Number of Candidates and Electors over Successive General Elections

Year	Total Number of Seats	Total Number of Candidates	Total Electorate	Total Number of Votes Polled	Total Number of Polling Stations
1952	489	1,874	17,32,12,343		1,96,084
1957	494	1,519	19,36,52,179	12,05,13,915	2,20,478
1962	494	1,985	21,63,61,569	11,99,04,284	2,38,031
1967	520	2,369	25,02,07,401	15,27,24,611	2,43,693
1971	518	2,784	27,41,89,132	15,15,36,802	3,42,918
1977	542	2,439	32,11,74,327	19,42,63,915	3,73,910
1980	542	4,629	35,62,05,329	20,27,52,893	4,36,813
1984-85	542	5,492	40,03,75,333	25,62,94,963	5,06,058
1989	543	6,160	49,89,06,129	30,90,50,495	5,80,798
1991-92	543	8,749	51,15,33,598	28,58,56,465	5,91,020
1996	543	13,952	59,25,72,288	34,33,08,090	7,67,462
1998	543	4,750	60,58,80,192	37,54,41,739	7,73,494
1999	543	4,648	61,95,36,847	37,16,69,104	7,74,651
2004	543	5,435	67,14,87,930	38,99,48,330	6,87,402
2009	543	8,070	71,69,85,101	41,72,36,311	8,30,866
2014	543	8,251	83,41,01,479	55,38,01,801	9,19,452