Thursday, April 16, 2009

Interesting facts of Lok Sabha Elections in INDIA


  • Designed by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. and Bharat Electronics Ltd, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were first used in Kerala.
  • EVMs can be used in areas with no power connections as they can run on an ordinary 6 volt Alkaline Battery.
  • Currently, an EVM can record a maximum of 3840 votes.
  • Currently, an EVM can cater to a maximum of 64 candidates.
  • Election Commission survey says 95% voters prefer EVMs.


  • Ever heard of 1033 candidates for a single seat? Believe it or not, it did happened for the Modaurichi assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu in 1996. The ballot paper was in the form of a booklet.
  • From its days of glory in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress in 1988 won exactly zero seats.
  • Mayawati's BSP and George W Bush's Republican Party both have the same electoral symbol - the elephant.
  • The lowest voter turnout in a polling station is three! It happened in Bomdila district in Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Elections in 1950s were carried out using different ballot boxes for each candidate, rather than voting on ballot paper! Different coloured boxes represented different parties.
  • Lakshadweep has the largest presence of Muslims of all the states/UTs including Jammu and Kashmir.
  • Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the only politician who has won from six different constituencies: Balrampur - 1957, 1967, Gwalior - 1971, New Delhi - 1977, 1980, Vidisha- 1991, Gandhinagar - 1996, Lucknow - 1991, 1996, 1998.
  • BJP won Lok Sabha seats for the first time in the states of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in 1998.
  • The country's five biggest and five smallest constituencies according to area:

Biggest constituencies: Barmer (Rajasthan): 71601.24 sq-km, Ladakh (J&K): 173266.37 sq-km, Arunachal (East) (AP): 39749.64 sq-km, Kuchh (Gujarat): 41644.55 sq-km, Arunachal Pradesh (West) AP: 40572.29 sq-km

Smallest constituencies: Mumbai South: 13.73 sq-km, Mumbai South-central: 18.31 sq-km, Delhi sadar: 28.09 sq-km, Chandni chowk (Delhi): 10.59 sq-km, Kolkata north west: 13.23 sq-km

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