ECI releases ‘world's largest electoral dataset’ for 2024 elections: 10 key takeaways

The dataset includes detailed information such as Parliamentary and Assembly constituency-wise electors, polling station numbers, voter turnout and more.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) unveiled the “world's largest electoral dataset” on Thursday, releasing 42 statistical reports on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 14 reports each on four state assembly elections. This initiative aims to promote transparency, encourage research, and strengthen public trust in India's electoral system.

The Election Commission of India said these reports will be a valuable resource for academicians, researchers, and election observers globally, enabling comprehensive analysis and insights into election policies. (File) (Pic used for representation) (HT_PRINT)

According to the Election Commission, these reports will be a valuable resource for academicians, researchers, and election observers globally, enabling comprehensive analysis and insights into election policies.

The dataset includes detailed information such as Parliamentary and Assembly constituency-wise electors, polling station numbers, voter turnout by state or constituency, party-wise vote shares, gender-based voting patterns, women’s participation, regional trends, constituency summaries, the performance of national and state parties, winning candidate analysis, and more.

An ECI official told ANI, “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.”

The ECI’s proactive approach to sharing this extensive dataset is expected to counter criticisms of non-disclosure by the poll body.

Highlights of the 42 reports on 2024 Lok Sabha elections

1. The number of registered electors rose to 97.97 crore in 2024, a 7.43% increase from 91.19 crore in 2019. A total of 64.64 crore votes were polled, up from 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 postal ballots.
2. Dhubri in Assam recorded the highest turnout at 92.3%, while Srinagar in J&K had the lowest at 38.7%, a significant improvement from 14.4% in 2019. Eleven parliamentary constituencies reported voter turnout below 50%. NOTA accounted for 63.71 lakh votes (0.99%), down from 1.06% in 2019. The turnout among transgender voters stood at 27.09%.
3. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections featured 10,52,664 polling stations, an increase from 10,37,848 in 2019. Repolling was conducted at only 40 polling stations, a mere 0.0038% of the total, significantly down from 540 in 2019. Each polling station served an average of 931 electors.
4. Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of polling stations at 1,62,069, while Lakshadweep had the fewest with 55. Eleven parliamentary constituencies had fewer than 1,000 polling stations, whereas three had more than 3,000. Bihar saw the largest increase in polling stations with 4,739 additional stations compared to 2019, followed by West Bengal with 1,731.
5. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 12,459 nominations were filed, slightly higher than the 11,692 in 2019. Of these, 8,360 qualified as contesting candidates after withdrawals and rejections, compared to 8,054 contesting candidates in 2019.
6. The parliamentary constituency (PC) with the highest number of nominations was Malkajgiri in Telangana, with 114 nominations, while Dibrugarh in Assam recorded the lowest, with just three nominations (excluding Surat).
7. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections highlighted significant strides in women's participation. Of the 97.97 crore registered electors, 47.63 crore were women, up from 43.85 crore in 2019, comprising 48.62% of the total electors compared to 48.09% in 2019. 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, up from 926 in 2019.
8. Female voter turnout was 65.78%, surpassing male turnout (65.55%), marking the second instance in Lok Sabha history where women outvoted men, as they did in 2019. Dhubri (Assam) had the highest female voting turnout at 92.17%, followed by Tamluk (West Bengal) at 87.57%. In terms of representation, 800 women contested the elections, up from 726 in 2019. Maharashtra had the highest number of female candidates (111), followed by Uttar Pradesh (80) and Tamil Nadu (77). However, 152 constituencies had no female candidates.
9. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections witnessed a 23.5% increase in registered third-gender electors, rising to 48,324 from 39,075 in 2019. Tamil Nadu registered the highest number of third-gender electors (8,467). Voter turnout among transgender individuals nearly doubled, reaching 27.09% compared to 14.64% in 2019. Registered PwD electors also saw a significant rise, growing from 61.67 lakh in 2019 to 90.28 lakh in 2024. Overseas electors increased to 1,19,374, comprising 1,06,411 males, 12,950 females, and 13 third-gender voters, up from 99,844 in 2019.
10. Among the results, six national parties participated, securing 63.35% of the total valid votes. Independent candidates made up 3,921 of the contestants, with only seven winning seats; 3,905 forfeited their deposits, polling 2.79% of the valid votes. A total of 7,190 candidates forfeited their deposits overall, an increase from 6,923 in 2019. Surat (Gujarat) was the only uncontested parliamentary constituency. Of the independent candidates, 279 were female.