Analysis · side by side

The states, ranked

Lok Sabha 1962. 18 states and union territories, 495 seats, ranked side by side.

States compared

1962 · 495 seats in total

Highest turnout

70.55%

Kerala

Lowest turnout

23.56%

Odisha

Closest contests

4.25%

Manipur · median margin

Most crowded ballot

5.6

Delhi · candidates per seat

[01]Turnout

Votes as a share of electors · 1962

Kerala 70.55%18 seats

Tripura 67.96%2 seats

Tamil Nadu 66.53%41 seats

Delhi 66.46%5 seats

Punjab 65.41%22 seats

Manipur 65.34%2 seats

Andhra Pradesh 62.65%43 seats

Maharashtra 60.43%44 seats

Gujarat 57.73%23 seats

Karnataka 56.54%26 seats

West Bengal 55.75%36 seats

Assam 52.75%12 seats

Rajasthan 52.44%22 seats

Uttar Pradesh 48.85%86 seats

[02]How close the contests were

Median winning margin · closest first

Manipur 4.25%2 seats

Punjab 5.6%22 seats

Tamil Nadu 7.79%41 seats

Tripura 8.25%2 seats

Andhra Pradesh 8.95%43 seats

West Bengal 10.1%36 seats

Uttar Pradesh 10.4%86 seats

Kerala 10.6%18 seats

Madhya Pradesh 12.07%36 seats

Rajasthan 12.9%22 seats

Assam 12.9%12 seats

Karnataka 13.36%26 seats

Bihar 14.19%53 seats

Gujarat 16.1%23 seats

[04]Candidates per seat

How crowded the ballot paper was

Delhi 5.628 candidates

Manipur 5.511 candidates

Uttar Pradesh 5.2443 candidates

Rajasthan 5.1111 candidates

Punjab 4.9107 candidates

Madhya Pradesh 4.4159 candidates

Bihar 4.4233 candidates

Maharashtra 3.8168 candidates

Tamil Nadu 3.7152 candidates

Tripura 3.57 candidates

Andhra Pradesh 3.4147 candidates

Assam 3.441 candidates

Karnataka 3.488 candidates

West Bengal 3.1112 candidates

[05]Party fragmentation

Effective number of parties by vote share · most fragmented first

Uttar Pradesh 4.79 of 10 parties won

Madhya Pradesh 4.46 of 11 parties won

Punjab 4.35 of 10 parties won

Rajasthan 4.15 of 8 parties won

Bihar 3.96 of 11 parties won

Manipur 3.82 of 5 parties won

Tamil Nadu 3.74 of 14 parties won

Kerala 3.75 of 8 parties won

Assam 3.43 of 7 parties won

Andhra Pradesh 3.24 of 7 parties won

West Bengal 3.26 of 12 parties won

Maharashtra 3.13 of 10 parties won

Karnataka 3.12 of 8 parties won

Gujarat 2.84 of 9 parties won

[06]Deposits lost

Candidates under a sixth of the valid vote

Manipur 63.64%7 of 11

Delhi 60.71%17 of 28

Punjab 54.21%58 of 107

Rajasthan 54.05%60 of 111

Uttar Pradesh 52.82%234 of 443

Bihar 46.35%108 of 233

Madhya Pradesh 45.91%73 of 159

Tripura 42.86%3 of 7

Maharashtra 41.67%70 of 168

Karnataka 37.5%33 of 88

Tamil Nadu 36.84%56 of 152

Andhra Pradesh 34.69%51 of 147

Gujarat 32.39%23 of 71

Assam 29.27%12 of 41

[07]Computed insights

Arithmetic over the table above, not commentary

Turnout ranged from 70.55% in Kerala to 23.56% in Odisha — a spread of 46.98 points.
70.55 - 23.56 across 18 states
Manipur was the hardest fought: its middle seat was won by 4.25%, against 40.45% in Himachal Pradesh.
median winning margin, 2 seats against 4
Delhi had the most crowded ballot at 5.6 candidates a seat, and 60.71% of them lost their deposit.
28 candidates over 5 seats
3 states and UTs returned a clean sweep — every seat went to a single party.
3 of 18 scopes with PartiesWon = 1