Election Commission released the world’s largest election data, know 10 special things about the report released on 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday released the world’s largest election dataset. This includes 42 statistical reports of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 14-14 statistical reports of the assembly elections of 4 states. The Election Commission says, ‘This will increase transparency, promote research and strengthen public confidence in the electoral system. This dataset will be useful to academicians, researchers and election observers around the world. This will enable in-depth analysis and insight into election policies.’This dataset includes parliamentary and assembly constituency-wise voters, number of polling stations, state or constituency-wise voting percentage, party-wise vote share, gender-based voting pattern, women Participation, regional trends, constituency summary, performance of national and state level parties, analysis of winning candidates, and much more. With this, elections can be studied in depth.

An ECI official told news agency ANI, ‘This detailed dataset empowers users to view the data in different ways for granular level analysis along with comparison with the datasets of previous elections already available on the ECI website. That means, now people will be able to get more in-depth information about elections. It will also be easy to understand how elections have changed over time. This initiative of the Election Commission is expected to answer the criticisms that the Election Commission did not provide information.

This dataset is an example of transparency!

Earlier, the Election Commission was accused of hiding information. But now by releasing such a huge dataset, the Election Commission has taken a big step towards transparency. This dataset will prove to be a treasure trove for understanding and analyzing elections. This will benefit not only the researchers but also the general public. They will be able to understand the election process better and contribute to strengthening democracy. The Election Commission has set an example through this dataset.

10 main points of 42 reports released on 2024 Lok Sabha elections

• The number of registered voters increases to 97.97 crore in 2024. This is 7.43% more than the 2019 figure of Rs 91.19 crore. A total of 64.64 crore votes were cast, which is more than 61.4 crore in 2019. Of these, 64.21 crore were EVM votes (32.93 crore male, 31.27 crore female and 13,058 third gender) and 42.81 lakh were cast through postal ballot.
• Compared to 2019, this time the voting figures in the Lok Sabha elections were different. Dhubri in Assam saw the highest voter turnout of 92.3%. Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir had the lowest turnout of 38.7%, which is much better than 2019’s 14.4%. Less than 50% voting took place in 11 seats. NOTA received 63.71 lakh votes (0.99%), down from 1.06% in 2019. Transgender voters polled 27.09%. There was a huge difference in the voting percentage of Dhubri and Srinagar. Low voting is a matter of concern in many places. Less use of NOTA shows people’s participation. Transgender voters also participated enthusiastically.
• There were 10,52,664 polling stations in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This number is more than 10,37,848 in 2019. Re-polling took place only at 40 polling stations. This is just 0.0038% of the total. In 2019, re-polling was held in 540 places, much less than this. There were an average of 931 voters at each polling station. The number of polling stations increased in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Very little re-polling took place. In comparison to 2019, re-voting had to be conducted at much fewer places in 2024. An average of 931 people cast their votes at each polling station.
• Uttar Pradesh had the maximum number of 1,62,069 polling stations. Lakshadweep had the least number of 55 polling stations. 11 parliamentary constituencies had less than 1,000 polling stations. There were more than 3,000 polling stations in the three parliamentary constituencies. In Bihar, 4,739 more polling stations were built than in 2019. 1,731 more polling stations were built in West Bengal. Having the highest number of polling stations in UP means that the number of people voting there is very high. Less polling stations in Lakshadweep means less population there. The increase in polling stations in Bihar shows that the number of voters there has increased.
• 12,459 nominations were filed in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This number is slightly higher than 2019’s 11,692 nominations. After withdrawal and cancellation of nominations, 8,360 candidates were left in the fray. In 2019 this number was 8,054. This time more people filled the nomination to contest the elections. But the number of people contesting the elections also increased only slightly.
• The parliamentary constituency (PC) with the highest number of nominations was Malkajgiri in Telangana, with 114 nominations, while the lowest was Dibrugarh in Assam, with only three nominations (except Surat).
• Women’s participation increased in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The total number of registered voters was 97.97 crore. Of these, 47.63 crore were women voters. In 2019 this number was 43.85 crore. The percentage of women among the total voters increased from 48.09% in 2019 to 48.62%. Puducherry had the highest number of women voters at 53.03%. Kerala stood second with 51.56%. The ratio of female voters per 1,000 males increased to 946, from 926 in 2019. This is a new record. A good increase was seen in the number of women voters. This is a good sign for democracy. The participation of women was highest in Puducherry and Kerala. This shows that women empowerment has been promoted in these states. The increasing male-female voter ratio is also a sign of positive change.
• Women participated enthusiastically in the Lok Sabha elections. The voting percentage of women was 65.78%, which was more than that of men (65.55%). This is the second time after 2019 when women voters left men behind. In Dhubri, Assam, maximum number of women cast their votes at 92.17%. 87.57% women voted in Tamluk, West Bengal. This time 800 women candidates were in the fray, whereas in 2019 the number was 726. Maharashtra had the maximum number of 111 women candidates. After that, 80 women candidates contested elections in Uttar Pradesh and 77 in Tamil Nadu. However, there was not a single woman candidate on 152 seats.
• The 2024 Lok Sabha elections saw a significant increase in the number of third gender voters. Their number increased from 39,075 in 2019 to 48,324 in 2024. This is an increase of 23.5%. The number of disabled voters also increased significantly, from 61.67 lakh in 2019 to 90.28 lakh in 2024. The number of overseas voters also increased to 1,19,374, which includes 1,06,411 men, 12,950 women and 13 third gender voters. In 2019 this number was 99,844. The highest number of third gender voters was recorded in Tamil Nadu (8,467). Voting percentage among transgender people almost doubled, reaching 27.09% in 2024 compared to 14.64% in 2019. This shows that more people are using their voting rights.
• The 6 national parties secured 63.35% of the total valid votes. Only 7 of the independent candidates won, while 3,905 candidates had their deposits forfeited. Independent candidates got 2.79% of the total valid votes. A total of 7,190 candidates’ deposits were confiscated, which is more than in 2019. Surat (Gujarat) was the only parliamentary constituency where elections were held unopposed. Among the independent candidates, 279 were women. A total of 3,921 independent candidates stood in the election.