New Delhi. This time a total of 8,360 candidates are in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections. Analysis of official data shows that after the 1996 parliamentary elections, the maximum number of candidates are facing each other in this election. In the 2019 elections, 8,039 candidates were in the fray for 543 Lok Sabha seats and in 1996, a record 13,952 candidates had contested the elections.
The 2024 general elections are being held in seven phases. Five rounds of voting have been completed. Voting will be held on May 25 and June 1 respectively under the sixth and final phase. Counting of votes will take place on June 4. In the fourth phase, voting was held on May 13 for 96 parliamentary seats in 10 states and Union Territories (UTs). The highest number of 1,717 candidates were in the fray in this phase.
According to Election Commission (EC) data, there were 1,625 candidates for 102 seats in 21 states and union territories in the first phase held on April 19. In the second phase on April 26, there were 1,198 candidates on 89 seats in 13 states and union territories, while in the third phase on May 7, there were 1,352 candidates on 94 seats in 12 states and union territories and in the fifth phase on May 20, there were eight states and union territories. There were 695 candidates for 49 seats in the Union Territories.
According to the Commission’s data, 869 and 904 candidates are in the fray in the upcoming sixth and seventh phases on May 25 and June 1 respectively. Voting will be held in 57 constituencies of seven states and union territories on May 25 and June 1 respectively.
According to official data, the number of candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections has increased more than four times from 1,874 in 1952 to 8,360 in 2024. General elections were held for the first time in the country in the year 1952. Now the average number of candidates per constituency has increased from 4.67 to 15.39.
By the end of the sixth Lok Sabha elections in 1977, there were on average only three to five candidates per Lok Sabha seat, but in the last elections there were 14.8 candidates per constituency across the country. The total number of candidates contesting elections has increased significantly over the last few years.
According to official figures, in 1952 there were 1,874 candidates for 489 seats with 3.83 candidates per constituency, while in 1971 the number increased to 2,784, an average of 5.37 per constituency. In the year 1977, 2,439 candidates contested the elections and the average per constituency was 4.5. Data shows that in the 1980 elections the number of candidates increased to 4,629 with an average of 8.54 per seat. In the eighth general election of 1984–85, there were 5,492 candidates with an average of 10.13 candidates per constituency.
According to official figures, in the ninth general election in 1989, 6,160 candidates were in the fray with an average of 11.34 per Lok Sabha seat, while in the 10th general election in 1991–92, 8,668 candidates contested for 543 seats with an average of 15.96 per seat. . According to the data, a record 13,952 candidates were in the fray for 543 Lok Sabha seats in 1996, while the average number of candidates per seat increased to 25.69 compared to 16.38 in the previous elections in 1991.
The increase in the security deposit by the Commission from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000 apparently reduced the number of candidates per seat in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections to 8.75 per seat. In 2004, the number of candidates again crossed the 5,000 mark with 5,435 candidates contesting for 543 Lok Sabha seats and an average of more than 10 contenders per seat. There were 8,070 candidates in the 2009 general elections. With this the average number of candidates per seat increased to 14.86. A total of 8,251 candidates were in the fray in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Tags: Loksabha Election 2024, Loksabha Elections
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 22, 2024, 21:50 IST