Vote Your Favourite

" PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's mother and father share the same name- Krishna, His father's name
is Krishna Bihari Vajpayee and mother's name is Krishna Devi!"
"Designed by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. and Bharat Electronics Ltd, Electronic Voting
Machines (EVMs) were first used in Kerala. The highest number of candidates that an electronic
voting machine can support is 64. If the number exceeds this, then manual ballot is used!""
"The word candidate comes from the Latin `candidatus` meaning `one clad in white` and most, till
this day carry on with this white!"
" `Ballot` and `bullet` are both derived from words for `balls`. The Greeks dropped a white ball
when they favoured a candidate, and a black when they were against. The term `blackballed`
comes from this too!"
" 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 symbolthe elephant!"
" A B Vajpayee is the only parliamentarian to be elected from four different states- UP, Gujarat,
MP and Delhi!"
" 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!"
" The Election Commission of India has seen many firsts, but here`s another first -- it now has two
election commissioners who are fluent in Gujarati. The latest to join, N Gopalaswamy, is an IAS
officer from the Gujarat cadre and, therefore, speaks Gujarati. That 63-year-old Chief Election
Commissioner Taruvai Subbayya Krishna Murthy also speaks fluent Gujarati!"
" Lakshadweep has the largest presence of Muslims of all the states/UTs including Jammu and
Kashmir!"
" Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh is the only constituency in the Hindi belt which has always
returned Congrss during the general elections!"
" 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!"
" Rajnandgaon in Madhya Pradesh has a unique feature- father, mother and son have
represented this constituency at different times!"
" The highest voting percentage in any general elections has been 62.2 per cent in 1957, the

lowest was in 1967 when only 33 per cent cast their vote. In the last general elections in 1999,
59.99 per cent had cast their votes!"
" As the country goes to polls, the Women's Reservation Bill has been put on the backburner yet
again. While only 4.4 per cent of the first Lok Sabha were women, the percentage only doubled to
9.02 per cent by the thirteenth Lok Sabha!"
DID YOU KNOW...
Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee parents share the same name
His fathers name is Krishna Bihari Vajpayee and mother's name is Krishna Devi
Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. and Bharat Electronics Ltd designed the Electronic Voting
Machines (EVMs)
In India, EVMs were used for the first time in Kerala
64 is the highest number of candidates that an electronic voting machine can support
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Republican Party of the US share the same electoral
symbol The elephant
AB Vajpayee is the only parliamentarian to hold the distinction of being elected from four
different states UP, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi
Bomdila district in Arunachal Pradesh holds the record for the lowest voter turnout. The number
stands at 3 persons
BJP won Lok Sabha seats for the first time in the states of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in
1998
The highest voting percentage in any general elections has been 62.2 per cent in 1957
The lowest voting percentage was in 1967 when only 33 per cent cast their vote
Ladakh parliamentary constituency in Jammu and Kashmir is the biggest constituency in India
by area - 13.73 sq-km
The smallest constituency in India by area is Chandni Chowk
Lakshdweep is the smallest Lok sabha constituency by number of voters
Party to have won the maximum number of seats in an election is the Congress. It won 415
seats in 1984
Jawaharlal Nehru's constituency was Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh
Indira Gandhi was the only PM to lose a Lok Sabha election while still in office
BJP led National Democratic Alliance administration (1999-2004), was the only non-Congress
government to complete a full five year term
Parties and symbols
Hand - Congress

Lotus - BJP
Hammer and sickle - Communist party of India (Marxist)
Elephant - Bahujan Samaj Party
Cycle - Samajwadi Party
Broom - AAP
No elections were held in the state of Sikkim before 1977 as till 1975 Sikkim was not part of the
Indian Union
Mizoram and Nagaland are the only two Indian states that have only one General constituency
in the state assembly
Rajnandgaon in Madhya Pradesh has a unique feature. Father, mother and son have
represented this constituency at different times
Both HD Deve Gowda and his son Kumaraswamy has served in the position of the CM of
Karnataka
Vinod Khanna is a former actor of Indian cinema who twice won elctions on a BJP ticket from
Gurdaspur in Punjab
Jayaprada who hails from Andhra Pradesh started off as a member of the Telugu Desam Party
but later joined the Samajwadi Party.
CPIM is the only party which has stuck to the same symbol since Independence
The word candidate comes from the Latin `candidatus` meaning `one clad in white'

Election Trivia Which parliamentary constituency is the largest in terms of area?

Posted on July 3, 2013
Ladakh parliamentary constituency in J&K is the largest parliamentary constituency in the country
with an area of 1,73,266.37 sq km. Of the 35 States and Union territories in the country, only 8
states have area bigger than Ladakh parliamentary constituency. These states are Rajasthan,
MP, Maharashtra, Andhara Pradesh, UP, J&K, Gujarat and Karnataka.
Do check our Map to get a better idea about the size of Ladakh parliamentary constituency
compared to other constituencies in the country.
Election Trivia Which Indian Prime Minister once held a record of winning a Lok Sabha
election with highest margin?
Posted on June 01,2013
Since Independence, India has seen thirteen different Prime Ministers excluding one acting Prime
Minister. Except Manmohan Singh every Indian Prime Minister has contested Lok Sabha election.
There has been just one Prime Minister who won a Lok Sabha election with a record margin and
that PM is not from Nehru Gandhi family.
In 1991, when P V Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister, he was not a member of either the
Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. He decided to get elected to the Lok Sabha. Congress MP Gangula
Prathapa Reddy resigned from Nandyal parliamentary constituency so that P V Narasimha Rao
can contest from that seat.
In the By- Election, P V Narasimha Rao won that seat with a margin of 5,80,297 votes which was
a new record. The previous record was by Ram Vilas Paswan. PV Narasimha Rao's record was
broken in 2004 by Anil Basu who defeated Swapan Kumar Nandi in 2004 by a margin of 5.92 lakh
votes.
Many Political Analysts believe that one of the main reason for this big victory of Narasimha Rao

was TDP. The party, which was the main opposition party in Andhara Pradesh did not field any
candidate against Rao.
Girish on June 7, 2013 at 10:42 am said:
One correction: P.V.Narasimha Raos record was broken by Anil Basu and not by Swapan
Kumar Nandi. Anil Basu defeated Swapan Kumar Nandi by a margin of 5.92 Lakh votes in
Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal in 2004.
Election Trivia Why no election was held in Sikkim before 1977?
Elections were held in Sikkim for the first time in 1977 when the country voted to elect the Sixth
Lok Sabha after the Emergency. This was because till 1975, Sikkim was not part of Indian Union.
Sikkim was a British protectorate state till 1947. After India's independence in 1947, a plebiscite
was held in Sikkim and the state opted to stay out of Indian Union. However, India agreed to a
protectorate status to Sikkim, controlling the state's external affairs, defense and communication.
The state had administrative autonomy and was a monarchy.
In 1975 due to riots and other internal unrest, the Prime Minister of Sikkim requested Indian
Parliament to intervene. A referendum was held in which 97.5% voters supported abolition of
monarchy and merger with India. On 16th May 1975, just a month before Emergency was
declared, Sikkim became India's part. In the Lok Sabha elections held in 1977, Congress was the
only party to field a candidate and was hence elected unopposed. However, in the state's first
assembly elections held in 1979, Congress could get only 2% votes.
After Indian independence
In 1947, when India became independent, a popular vote rejected Sikkim's joining the Indian
Union, and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to a special protectorate status for Sikkim.
Sikkim came under the suzerainty of India, which controlled its external affairs, defence,
diplomacy and communications, but Sikkim otherwise retained administrative autonomy. A state
council was established in 1953 to allow for constitutional government under the Chogyal.
Meanwhile, the Sikkim National Congress demanded fresh elections and greater representation
for Nepalis in Sikkim. Palden Thondup Namgyal, the Chogyal at the time, proved to be extremely
unpopular with the people, and in 1973, riots in front of the Chogyal's palace led to a formal
request for protection from India.
In 1975, the Prime Minister of Sikkim appealed to the Indian Parliament for Sikkim to become a
state of India. In April of that year, the Indian Army took over the city of Gangtok and disarmed the
Chogyal's palace guards. Thereafter, a referendum was held in which 97.5 per cent of voters
supported abolishing the monarchy, effectively approving union with India. Although the union
was presented as the will of the people by the India authority, the merger was widely criticized as
an annexation and India was accused of exploiting the ethnic divide and rigging the referendum.
[24] On 16 May 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union, and the monarchy was
abolished.[25] To enable the incorporation of the new state, the Indian Parliament amended the
Indian Constitution. First, the 35th Amendment laid down a set of conditions that made Sikkim an
"Associate State," a special designation not used by any other state. Later, the 36th Amendment
repealed the 35th Amendment, and made Sikkim a full state, adding its name to the First
Schedule of the Constitution.[26]
Election Trivia Which two Indian states only have one General constituency in state
assembly?
Posted on March 18,2013
In our parliament and state assemblies, some constituencies are reserved for Schedule Castes
and Schedule Tribes. The remaining constituencies are General i.e. unreserved and anyone can
contest from these seats. In Mizoram and Nagaland, only one seat is General. The remaining
seats in the two states are reserved for Schedule Tribes.
The reservation status of a constituency is decided by Election Commission. This decision is
made on the basis of proportion of SC and ST population in the state, region and district. In these

two states, almost the entire population is tribal. Because of this reason, except one seat, the
remaining seats are reserved for Schedule Tribes.
mizo
Total ACs: 40
General:1 | ST:39
naga
Total ACs: 60
General:1 | ST:59
Election Trivia Which Lok Sabha constituency has less voters than Mumbai Municipal
Wards?
Posted on December 14,2012
Lakshadweep Lok Sabha constituency has the lowest number of voters in the country. It had
45,983 voters in 2009 There are Municipal wards in Mumbai which have more voters than
Lakshadweep. Despite so few voters, Lakshdweep is not merged with any other Lok Sabha seat
because of its geography. It is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean and hence even after
multiple delimitations it remains a Lok Sabha seat on its own. The average number of voters in
Municipal wards of Mumbai is around 45000 and there are many wards which have more voters
than Lakshadweep Lok Sabha constituency.
Election Trivia Which Indian Prime Minister did not face Lok Sabha during his tenure?
Posted on December 13,2012
Chaudhary Charan Singh holds this unique distinction. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the first
non Congress government formed at the center in 1977. However, he wanted the PMs post and
broke away from Janata Party. He was supported from outside by Indira Gandhi. But she had no
intention of keeping Charan Singh in government for long. Just a day before Parliament session
was to be held, Indira Gandhi withdrew support. Charan Singh's party had just about 64 MPs.
Instead of facing Lok Sabha and trying to prove his majority, he chose to resign and then
elections were held six months later. He represented Baghpat in Lok Sabha which is now
represented by his son Ajit Singh.
Election Trivia Which Political Party came to power in a big Indian state within eleven
months of its formation?
Posted on December 10,2012
The state is Andhara Pradesh and the party is Telugu Desham Party. It was formed on 29th
March 1982 and its founder N T Ramarao declared on its formation that the main motive of the
party was to get rid Andhara Pradesh of Congress rule which was ruling the state since its
formation i.e. 1956. Elections were scheduled in Andhara Pradesh in August 1983 but the state
government re scheduled it to January 1983. TDP won 199 out of of 294 seats in the state. This
despite the fact that the party was not recognized by the election commission when the state
went to polls. The candidates of TDP had to contest as independents. Hence the official election
results shows them as independents.
Election Trivia Who is the only Indian Prime Minister to loose a Lok Sabha election?
Posted on December 08,2012
Governments change after elections. Of the fourteen Lok Sabha elections held since
independence, ruling party has lost seven times i.e. in 1977, 1980, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 &
2004. However, the leader of the ruling party i.e. the Prime Minister has lost election only once.
So who was that Prime Minister? Was it Narsimha Rao in 1996 who was the first Congress Prime
Minister outside of Nehru Gandhi family or was it Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 who won with the highest
margin in the previous election in 1984? Or was it Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2004 who was first non
Congress Prime Minister to complete five years in office? Or could it be Indira Gandhi who
contested from her family's traditional seat in Rae Bareli in 1977? The answer may surprise
many. Indira Gandhi is the only Prime Minister till date who has lost a Lok Sabha election, while
still in office. In 1977, she lost from Rae Bareli by a margin of 55,202 votes. The person to defeat

her was Raj Narain, who lost to her in 1971 and had filed a case in Allahabad High Court alleging
that Indira Gandhi had indulged in electoral fraud. The court found merit in Raj Narain's case, set
aside Indira Gandhi's election and disqualified her for contesting election for six years. This court
judgement was the final nail that would lead to declaration of emergency. After declaring
Emergency, Indira Gandhi changed the laws to the very points on which the Allahabad High court
had ruled against her. The power to disqualify was now solely with the President. She could now
contest elections again in 1977 but became the first and only Indian Prime Minister to loose a Lok
Sabha election.
Election Trivia Who is the only MP to win with a margin of more than 4 lakh votes twice?
Posted on December 07,2012
Ram Vilas Paswan, leader of Lok Jan Shakti Party has been winning Hajipur Lok Sabha seat in
Bihar since 1977 with two exceptions in 1984 & 2009. Twice he won with a margin of more than 4
lakh votes. In 1977, which was his first parliamentary election, he won with a margin of 4,24,545
votes whereas in 1989 he won with a margin of 5,04,448 votes. In 1977 when Ram Vilas Paswan
won from Hajipur, he created a new record in winning margin which was bettered in 1989 again
by Ram Vilas Paswan. This record would only be bettered by a Prime Minister. Who was he?
Watch this space.
Election Trivia What is the highest victory margin in a Lok Sabha election?
Posted on December 6, 2012
The largest victory margin in a Lok Sabha election is around 6 lakh (5,92,502 to be precise). Anil
Basu of CPM defeated BJP candidate Swapan Kumar Nandi in 2004 Lok Sabha election by this
huge margin in Arambagh constituency in West Bengal. Infact many winners in that Lok Sabha
election had got less votes than the margin of victory of the CPM candidate.
Election Trivia Has anyone ever won an assembly election by a margin of just one vote?
Posted on December 05,2012
The smallest victory margin in an assembly election is 1 vote and there are two candidates who
hold this record. Most recently, CP Joshi, lost to BJP candidate Kalyan Singh Chauhan in
Nathdwara constituency in Rajasthan in 2008 assembly elections by just one vote. CP Joshi was
not only state Congress President at that time but was also tipped to be the next Chief Minister of
Rajasthan. Ironically Congress party came to power after defeating the ruling party BJP but CP
Joshi who was considered architect of this victory lost. His mother, wife and driver did not turn up
to vote on polling day. Nothing illustrates the importance of every single vote than this incident.
However in less than seven months, CP Joshi contested parliamentary election and won by a
margin of 1.35 lakh votes. He is now a Cabinet Minister in the central government. Who is the
other lucky candidate to win an assembly election by just one vote? One hint: He is from
Karnataka. Update: An alert reader Anshul, pointed out to us that Neena Verma of BJP too had
won by 1 vote in 2008 from Dhar, MP. As Anshul mentions, if we dive deeper in the records, we
might find many such instances. This exactly is the motive of this website i.e. to bring electoral
data closer to people. So do let us know if there are any more instances of someone winning by
just one margin. Keep exploring the website.
anshul on December 9, 2012 at 10:05 am said:
Neena Verma , wife of BJP leader Vikaram Verma won dhar assembly election in 2008 in MP also
by 1 vote..I am sure if we div deeper in records there would be many such instances
Election Trivia Which Indian state assembly has 24 seats vacant since independence?
Posted on December 3, 2012
In J&K, 24 seats are always kept vacant. So out of a total strength of 111 seats, elections are held
only for 87 seats. Elections for remaining 24 seats are not held because the seats fall under
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). The seats are vacant since 1957 when first general elections
were held in the state. Let us hope for the sake of democracy that elections would be held on

those seats in the near future and MLAs from those seats can sit in J&K assembly.
Election Trivia What is the record for highest number of candidates from a single Lok
Sabha constituency?
Posted on December 01,2012
Nalgonda Parliamentary constituency in Andhra Pradesh holds the record for maximum number
of candidates in any Lok Sabha election. A total of 480 candidates contested in 1996. Of these
only four candidates were from recognized parties. The rest were independents. The four
candidates from recognized parites together polled 82.9% of votes whereas the 476 independent
candidates polled 17.1% votes. Most of these independents were contesting as part of an
agitation demanding implementation of Srisailam Left Bank Canal project and drinking water
supply scheme for fluoride affected villages in Nalgonda district. In 1999, Nalgonda again created
a record when 444 persons were debarred from contesting the Lok Sabha elections for their
failure to submit details of election expenditure incurred by them during earlier elections. Of the
444 persons debarred, 436 had contested Lok Sabha elections in 1996 whereas 8 had contested
assembly elections. Finally only six candidates remained in the fray in 1999.
Samir on December 1, 2012 at 4:17 pm said:
It is time we move to system where only 50%+ total voting results will be considered.
A 2% margin with less than 20% voting is pathetic
Reply
Prakhar on February 16, 2013 at 1:19 pm said:
For the Modaurichi assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu in 1996, total 1033 candidates
contested for a single seat. The ballot paper was in the form of a booklet.
Reply
Arvind on March 6, 2014 at 12:17 pm said:
@Prakhar : I guess the statistic that you have mentioned about the TN constituency of
Modakurichi; is for Tamilnadu Assembly elections, not the Lok Sabha elections.
Election Trivia Who is the only politician to win six different Lok Sabha seats from four
different states in his political career?
Posted on November 30, 2012
Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the only politician who has won from six different Lok Sabha
constituencies in four different states. He has been elected to Lok Sabha eleven times. He first
contested election in 1957 on three different seats. In Mathura, he forfeited his deposit, came at
second position in Lucknow and won from Balrampur. On two occasions, he won from two
different seats in two different states. In 1991, he won from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and
Lucknow in UP. In 1996, he won from Gandhinagar and Lucknow.
Election Trivia Did any party ever win all the seats in a Vidhan Sabha election?
Posted on November 29,2012
We live in an era of coalition politics where not only single parties but even pre-poll multi party
alliances fail to get a majority in state and national elections. So a scenario where a single party
wins all the seats in a state assembly seems highly unlikely. But this has happened not once but
twice and in the same state. That state is Sikkim. In 1989, Sikkim Sangram Parishad led by Nar
Bahadur Bhandari won all the seats in the state assembly. So was that the first time or second
time when a party in Sikkim won all the seats in the state assembly? Could it have happened
more recently or are such feats a thing of past when era of coalition politics had not yet arrived?
Find out the answer by exploring all election results of Sikkim Vidhan Sabha. Nar Bahadur
Bhandari who was leader of the winning party in 1989 and had won his seat by polling 91.5%
votes was leader of the loosing side in that other instance, when he and his party could not win a
single seat.
Election Trivia Lowest Winning Margin for a Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat

Posted on November 28, 2012

Satyajit Singh Gayakwad of Congress won his Lok Sabha seat in 1996 from Baroda in Gujarat by
a margin of just 17 votes out of total 4,37,236 votes polled. This was the lowest margin of that Lok
Sabha election in the country and lowest for Gujarat since independence. However the all-time
lowest victory margin for a Lok Sabha seat outside Gujarat is even less than 17. Want to know
the lowest victory margin for a Lok Sabha election? Keep watching this space or better explore
the website.
Election Trivia What is the record for highest number of candidates from a single Lok
Sabha constituency?
Posted on December 01,2012
Nalgonda Parliamentary constituency in Andhra Pradesh holds the record for maximum number
of candidates in any Lok Sabha election. A total of 480 candidates contested in 1996. Of these
only four candidates were from recognized parties. The rest were independents. The four
candidates from recognized parites together polled 82.9% of votes whereas the 476 independent
candidates polled 17.1% votes. Most of these independents were contesting as part of an
agitation demanding implementation of Srisailam Left Bank Canal project and drinking water
supply scheme for fluoride affected villages in Nalgonda district. In 1999, Nalgonda again created
a record when 444 persons were debarred from contesting the Lok Sabha elections for their
failure to submit details of election expenditure incurred by them during earlier elections. Of the
444 persons debarred, 436 had contested Lok Sabha elections in 1996 whereas 8 had contested
assembly elections. Finally only six candidates remained in the fray in 1999.
Samir on December 1, 2012 at 4:17 pm said:
It is time we move to system where only 50%+ total voting results will be considered.
A 2% margin with less than 20% voting is pathetic
Reply
Prakhar on February 16, 2013 at 1:19 pm said:
For the Modaurichi assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu in 1996, total 1033 candidates
contested for a single seat. The ballot paper was in the form of a booklet.
Reply
Arvind on March 6, 2014 at 12:17 pm said:
@Prakhar : I guess the statistic that you have mentioned about the TN constituency of
Modakurichi; is for Tamilnadu Assembly elections, not the Lok Sabha elections.
Election Trivia Who is the only MP to win with a margin of more than 4 lakh votes twice?
Posted on December 07,2012
Ram Vilas Paswan, leader of Lok Jan Shakti Party has been winning Hajipur Lok Sabha seat in
Bihar since 1977 with two exceptions in 1984 & 2009. Twice he won with a margin of more than 4
lakh votes. In 1977, which was his first parliamentary election, he won with a margin of 4,24,545
votes whereas in 1989 he won with a margin of 5,04,448 votes. In 1977 when Ram Vilas Paswan
won from Hajipur, he created a new record in winning margin which was bettered in 1989 again
by Ram Vilas Paswan. This record would only be bettered by a Prime Minister. Who was he?
Watch this space.
Pingback: Election Trivia Which Indian Prime Minister once held a record of winning a Lok
Sabha election with highest margin? | IndiaVotes
syed hamd hafeez on January 28, 2014 at 9:01 pm said:
acordng to me the name is late mrs.indira gandhi

Poll trivia: Things you did not know about EVMs

IANS New Delhi, March 18, 2009 | UPDATED 16:30 IST

Did you know that the use of electronic voting machines, or EVMs, results in the saving of nearly
10,000 tonnes of paper that in turn preserves forests where trees are cut down to produce paper?
About 7,700 tonnes of paper was used for printing of ballot papers in the 1999 general elections,
whereas 8,800 tonnes of paper was used for the purpose in the 1996 General Elections. With the
electorate going up steadily, more than 10,000 tonnes of paper would have to be used for this
general election if there had been no EVMs.
Voters in all Lok Sabha constituencies going to the polls in April-May will cast their votes through
EVMs. The house has 543 elective seats.
Here are some more interesting facts about the handy device:
The EVM is a simple electronic device used to record votes in place of ballot papers and boxes
which were used earlier.
The EVM was first used in India in 1982 in a by-election at the Parur assembly constituency of
Kerala and in only 50 polling stations.
EVMs are manufactured by two central government undertakings - Bharat Electronics Limited
and Electronics Corporation of India Limited. The Election Commission of India gets EVMs from
both them.
An EVM can be used in areas without electricity as it runs on alkaline batteries.
An EVM can record a maximum number of 3,840 votes which far exceeds the number of voters
(usually less than 1,400) assigned to a polling station.
Elections can be conducted through EVMs if the number of candidates does not exceed 64. If
the number of candidates exceeds 64, the poll has to be conducted through conventional ballot
paper/boxes.
Utmost care has been taken to make EVM tamper-proof. The programming of the
microprocessor chip used in EVMs is burned into the chip. Any attempt to alter the existing
programme on the chip would destroy its existing programme and render it useless.
The polling result is stored permanently in the memory chip of the EVM till it is intentionally
cleared for readying the machine for subsequent elections. Removal of batteries from the
machine does not have any effect on its memory.
The 2004 general elections were conducted totally by using 10.75 lakh (1.075 million) EVMs in
the country.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/Poll+trivia:

+Things+you+did+not+know+about+EVMs/1/32792.html
17
Namita Verma
Votes by Anonymous, Harshit Chopra, Rushabh Shah, Satheesh Kumar, and 12 more.
The Indian National Congress party has been in power during 48 of the 66 years since the
Republic of India was formed. The only non-Congress government that completed a full five-yearterm was the 1999-2004 Bhartiya Janta Party-led National Democratic Alliance administration.
The shortest-lived government in Indian history was formed by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)
in 1996. It lasted 13 days.
A total of 828,804 polling stations are supervised by 2.1 million security personnel with more

than 1.1 million electronic voting machines.

In the 2004 elections the oldest candidate was Mr. Ramachandra Veerappa in Bidar,
Karnataka-94 years.
The highest number of candidates that an electronic voting machine can support is 64. If the
number exceeds this, then manual ballot is used.
1033 candidates contested for a single seat in Modaurichi assembly constituency in Tamil
Nadu in 1996. The ballot paper was in the form of a booklet.
In 1988, Congress won exactly zero seats in Uttar Pradesh.
The lowest voter turnout in a polling station is three! It happened in Bomdila district in
Arunachal Pradesh.
The highest voting percentage in any general elections has been 62.2 per cent in 1957, the
lowest was in 1967 when only 33 per cent cast their vote. In the last general elections in 1999,
59.99 per cent had cast their votes.
The most remote polling booth is the One polling booth in the Gir Forest in India's western
state of Gujarat to enable a lone voter, a priest, to cast his vote.
Trivia/ Interesting facts of Lok Sabha elections
Elections cartoons
Staff Reporter | 23 Mar, 2009
Here are some of the interesting facts about India's Lok Sabha elections:
Designed by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. and Bharat Electronics Ltd, Electronic Voting
Machines (EVMs) were first used in Kerala. The highest number of candidates that an electronic
voting machine can support is 64. If the number exceeds this, then manual ballot is used.
The word candidate comes from the Latin 'candidatus' meaning 'one clad in white' and most, till
this day carry on with this white.
'Ballot' and 'bullet' are both derived from words for 'balls.' The Greeks dropped a white ball
when they favoured a candidate, and a black when they were against. The term 'blackballed'
comes from this too.
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.
A B Vajpayee is the only parliamentarian to be elected from four different states- UP, Gujarat,
MP and Delhi.
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.

The Election Commission of India has seen many firsts, but here is another first - it now has
two election commissioners who are fluent in Gujarati. The latest to join, N Gopalaswamy, is an
IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre and, therefore, speaks Gujarati. That 63-year-old Chief Election
Commissioner Taruvai Subbayya Krishna Murthy also speaks fluent Gujarati.
Lakshadweep has the largest presence of Muslims of all the states/UTs including Jammu and
Kashmir.
Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh is the only constituency in the Hindi belt which has always
returned Congress during the general elections.
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.
Rajnandgaon in Madhya Pradesh has a unique feature- father, mother and son have
represented this constituency at different times.
The highest voting percentage in any general elections has been 62.2 percent in 1957, the
lowest was in 1967 when only 33 percent cast their vote. In the last general elections in 1999,
59.99 percent had cast their votes.
As the country goes to polls, the Women's Reservation Bill has been put on the backburner yet
again. While only 4.4 percent of the first Lok Sabha were women, the percentage only doubled to
9.02 percent by the 13th Lok Sabha.
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
Election Commission survey says 95% voters prefer EVMs.
150 million votes to be targeted by the BJP's campaign via-e-mail and SMS.
Number of EVMs required this election: 10.25 lakh.
The category of as many as 11 Lok Sabha constituencies have undergone change from
General to Reserve in the 2009 parliamentary elections.
The number of Parliamentary constituencies reserved for SC has been increased from 79 to

84, while for ST it has risen from 41 to 47, a net addition of 11 seats.
The general elections will be held in 543 Parliamentary constituencies out of which 499 will be
newly delimited constituencies.
The entire country, except the three states of Assam, Nagaland and Jammu and Kashmir,
would be using the photo electoral rolls for the first time.
Out of 543 parliamentary seats, photo electoral rolls will be used in 522 constituencies as well
as in all the legislative constituencies of Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Orissa.
Photographs of 82% electors are printed in the electoral rolls, except Assam where the scheme
could not be implemented.
The latest delimitation exercise has added 43 million new voters in the country. In 2004 polls,
there were 671 million voters and in 2009 the number has increased to 714 million.
Presently, there are 8,28,804 polling stations in the country, as compared to 6,87,402 polling
stations in 2004 Lok Sabha polls.
Of these, as many as 12,901 new polling stations have been set up for villages having less
than 300 electors.
Unnao emerges as largest LS constituency, Lakshadweep smallest after the latest delimitation
exercise.
The number of electorate in Unnao will be 18,97,474 while those in Lakshadweep will be nearly
44,424.
UP has the highest number of polling stations i.e. 1,28,112 while the lowest number are in
Sikkim with 581.
In 2004, there were 6,87,402 polling stations and this year it has increased to 8,28,804.
Some facts about the 2014 Lok Sabha election
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Total electorate - 814 million (814,591,184)
Male voters - 426 million (426,615,513), Female 387 million (387,911,330) and Others 28,341
First time voters - over 23 million (23,161,296)
Polling stations - 930,000
8 million civilians and 3 million security personnel deployed
NOTA (None Of The Above) option will be used for the first time in a parliamentary poll
India is the 12th country to use NOTA
A voter can get enrolled at one place only
One can contest from any constituency except autonomous districts of Assam, Lakshadweep and
Sikkim

- See more at: http://www.werindia.com/election2014/?category_name=electiontrivia#sthash.CHsjgOQ5.dpuf

http://www.newindianexpress.com/education/student/Countries-Know-YourTrivia/2014/03/29/article2126489.ece1#.U0KYCqKe3s0
http://www.hindustantimes.com/elections2014/state-of-the-states/10-fascinating-numbers-fromthe-treasure-trove-of-indian-general-elections/article1-1198864.aspx
10 fascinating numbers from the treasure trove of Lok Sabha elections
Prasanna Mohanty, Hindustan Times New Delhi, March 22, 2014
First Published: 15:47 IST(22/3/2014) | Last Updated: 11:06 IST(24/3/2014)
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Numbers tell a tale of their own, more so when they are generated by the world's biggest
democracy. HT compiles some interesting facts and figures - expenditure, voter turnout,
participant parties, and more about India's Lok Sabha elections.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/popup/2014/3/Election_numbers_graphic_mar22-02.gif