The Election Commission of India released the world’s largest poll dataset on Thursday — spanning 42 statistical reports on the Lok Sabha elections and 14 reports each on four state assembly contests. The landmark move is intended to promote transparency and outlines a steady increase in voter turnout during the past few years.
“This exhaustive data set empowers stakeholders to slice and dice data for a granular level analysis with comparison from data sets of previous elections already available on ECI website. These reports will facilitate time-series analysis to track long-term outlook and shifts in electoral and political landscape,” an EC official said.
According to details shared by the EC, India set a world record earlier this year with 64.64 crore voters exercising their franchise for the Lok Sabha polls. The dataset includes a constituency-wise breakdown of electors, candidates, voter turnout, party-wise vote shares, gender-based voting patterns and more.
Here are five key takeaways:
1. The number of registered voters rose to 97.97 crore in 2024 — with a total of 64.64 crore casting their ballots. Dhubri in Assam recorded the highest turnout at 92.3%, while Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir had the lowest at 38.7%. However the number was a significant increase from the 14.4% turnout the northern city recorded in 2019. Eleven parliamentary constituencies reported voter turnout below 50%
2. Polling for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was conducted at 10,52,664 voting stations with repolling required at only 40 locations. Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of polling stations (1,62,069) while Lakshadweep had the lowest with 55. There were 11 parliamentary constituencies which had fewer than 1,000 polling stations and three had more than 3,000. Some states saw the addition of several thousand polling stations for the 2024 elections.
3. There were 12,459 nominations were filed for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with 8,360 ultimately qualifying as contesting candidates. Six national parties featured in the results — securing 63.35% of the total valid votes. Independent candidates made up 3,921 of the contestants, with only seven winning seats. Surat in Gujarat was the only uncontested parliamentary constituency.
4. Women’s participation increased significantly this year with 47.63 crore registered electors. Puducherry led with the highest percentage of female electors (53.03%), followed by Kerala (51.56%). The female-to-male elector ratio reached a record high of 946 per 1,000 males. Female voter turnout was also greater than their male counterparts — making it the second consecutive election where women outvoted men. Around 800 women contested the elections — with Maharashtra fielding 111 female candidates. There were however 152 constituencies with no female candidates.
5. There was also a marked increase in third-gender electors — rising to 48,324 this year. Voter turnout among transgender individuals nearly doubled. Registered PwD electors also saw a significant rise — reaching 90.28 lakh in 2024. Meanwhile overseas electors increased to 1,19,374 — comprising 1,06,411 males, 12,950 females, and 13 third-gender voters.
(With inputs from agencies)
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