LS polls: 178 members win with 30% or less votes in 2024, up from 125 in 2019
New Delhi: An analysis of data released by the Election Commission of India has revealed that 178 members of the 17th Lok Sabha were elected with 30 per cent or fewer votes from their respective constituencies. This represents a significant rise from 125 members in the 2019 elections, marking nearly one-third of the 542 seats in the lower house. The trend highlights the increasingly fragmented nature of India’s electoral landscape, raising questions about the representativeness of elected officials under the first-past-the-post system.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which emerged as the single largest party with 240 seats, saw 57 of its MPs securing victory with less than 30 per cent of the vote share in their constituencies. Similarly, the Congress party, which won 99 seats, had 30 MPs elected with this marginal voter backing. The Samajwadi Party (SP) saw 31 out of its 37 MPs achieving victory with a similar share of votes, underlining the deep competition in constituencies where multiple parties are in contention.
The data also revealed stark patterns across states. Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest state, accounted for 65 of the 178 MPs elected with a vote share of 30 per cent or less. Bihar contributed 30 such MPs, while Maharashtra followed with 24. In total, only six MPs across India won their seats with more than 50 per cent of the votes in their constituencies, reflecting how most winners emerged with fractured mandates. Notably, in eight constituencies, candidates were elected with as little as 10-20 per cent of the total votes cast.
The analysis of voter support highlighted that 266 MPs secured their wins with 30-40 per cent of the vote share, while 92 candidates won with 40-50 per cent. On the other end of the spectrum, only seven candidates managed to win their constituencies with more than 70 per cent of the votes, indicating the rarity of overwhelming electoral mandates.
The Election Commission also reported that six national parties collectively accounted for 63.35 per cent of the total valid votes. Among these, the BJP received 23.59 crore votes, the Congress garnered 13.67 crore, and the Samajwadi Party secured 2.95 crore. These figures demonstrate the BJP’s dominance in terms of voter base, though the overall results indicate increasing fragmentation across constituencies.
Meanwhile, the financial toll on candidates remained high. A staggering 7,190 candidates lost their security deposits, up from 6,923 in 2019. Among the 3,921 independent candidates, only seven managed to win, with the vast majority also forfeiting their deposits.
