ECI unveils world’s largest electoral dataset for 2024 elections: 8 key takeaways

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Election Commission of India (ECI) unveiled what it claims to be the "world's largest electoral dataset" on Thursday. The dataset includes 42 statistical reports on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 14 reports each for four state assembly elections. This initiative is designed to promote transparency, foster research, and enhance public trust in India’s electoral system. The ECI stated that these reports would serve as an invaluable resource for academics, researchers, and election observers worldwide, offering a comprehensive basis for analysis and insights into election policies.

The dataset provides in-depth information, such as the number of electors in each Parliamentary and Assembly constituency, polling station details, voter turnout by state or constituency, party-wise vote shares, gender-based voting patterns, women's participation, regional trends, constituency summaries, performance of national and state parties, winning candidate analysis, and much more.

An ECI official stated, "This comprehensive dataset allows stakeholders to perform detailed analyses, comparing data with previous elections already available on the ECI website. These reports will aid in time-series analysis, enabling a long-term outlook and tracking shifts in the electoral and political landscape." This proactive approach by the ECI to share such a vast dataset aims to address previous criticisms of non-disclosure by the election body.

Key highlights from the 42 reports on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections:

1. Electoral growth: The number of registered electors has increased to 97.97 crore in 2024, a 7.43% rise from 91.19 crore in 2019. Voter turnout reached 64.64 crore, 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), while 42.81 lakh were postal ballots.

2. Turnout: Dhubri in Assam recorded the highest turnout at 92.3%, while Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir had the lowest at 38.7%, an improvement from 14.4% in 2019. Eleven constituencies had a turnout below 50%. NOTA accounted for 63.71 lakh votes (0.99%), slightly down from 1.06% in 2019. The transgender voter turnout stood at 27.09%.

3. Polling stations: The number of polling stations increased to 10,52,664 in 2024, up from 10,37,848 in 2019. Repolling was needed at only 40 polling stations (0.0038% of the total), a significant reduction from 540 in 2019. Each station served an average of 931 electors.

4. Polling station distribution: Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of polling stations at 1,62,069, while Lakshadweep had the fewest with 55. Eleven constituencies had fewer than 1,000 polling stations, while three had more than 3,000. Bihar saw the largest increase, adding 4,739 stations compared to 2019.

5. Nominations: A total of 12,459 nominations were filed, slightly higher than 11,692 in 2019. After withdrawals and rejections, 8,360 nominations qualified as contesting candidates, compared to 8,054 in 2019. Malkajgiri in Telangana had the highest number of nominations at 114, while Dibrugarh in Assam had the lowest at three.

6. Women's participation: Of the 97.97 crore electors, 47.63 crore were women, an increase from 43.85 crore in 2019. This means women now comprise 48.62% of the total electors, up from 48.09% in 2019. Female voter turnout reached 65.78%, surpassing male turnout (65.55%). This marked the second time in Lok Sabha history that women outvoted men, as they did in 2019. Dhubri (Assam) recorded the highest female turnout at 92.17%, followed by Tamluk (West Bengal) at 87.57%. Additionally, 800 women contested elections in 2024, up from 726 in 2019, with Maharashtra having the highest number of female candidates (111).

7. Third-gender participation: The 2024 elections saw a 23.5% increase in registered third-gender electors, rising to 48,324 from 39,075 in 2019. Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of third-gender electors at 8,467. Voter turnout among transgender individuals nearly doubled to 27.09%, compared to 14.64% in 2019. Registered electors with disabilities (PwD) also increased significantly, from 61.67 lakh in 2019 to 90.28 lakh in 2024. Overseas electors grew to 1,19,374, including 1,06,411 males, 12,950 females, and 13 third-gender electors, up from 99,844 in 2019.

8. Candidates and vote shares: Six national parties participated in the elections, securing 63.35% of the total valid votes. Independent candidates made up 3,921 of the contestants, with only seven winning seats and 3,905 forfeiting their deposits. A total of 7,190 candidates forfeited their deposits, an increase from 6,923 in 2019. Surat (Gujarat) was the only uncontested constituency. Of the independent candidates, 279 were female.