Analysis · side by side

The states, ranked

Lok Sabha 1989. 31 states and union territories, 529 seats, ranked side by side.

States compared

1989 · 529 seats in total

Highest turnout

84.77%

Lakshadweep

Lowest turnout

25.68%

Jammu and Kashmir

Closest contests

1.83%

Chandigarh · median margin

Most crowded ballot

33.9

Delhi · candidates per seat

[01]Turnout

Votes as a share of electors · 1989

Lakshadweep 84.77%1 seats

Tripura 83.89%2 seats

West Bengal 79.67%42 seats

Kerala 79.3%20 seats

Nagaland 74.71%1 seats

Sikkim 72.01%1 seats

Manipur 71.76%2 seats

Andaman and Nicobar I… 70.25%1 seats

Dadra and Nagar Haveli 69.97%1 seats

Andhra Pradesh 67.72%42 seats

Karnataka 67.53%28 seats

Tamil Nadu 66.86%39 seats

Puducherry 66.71%1 seats

Chandigarh 64.84%1 seats

[02]How close the contests were

Median winning margin · closest first

Chandigarh 1.83%1 seats

Kerala 3.65%20 seats

Lakshadweep 4.54%1 seats

Daman and Diu 5.04%1 seats

Haryana 6.95%10 seats

West Bengal 7.4%42 seats

Andhra Pradesh 8.22%42 seats

Maharashtra 8.5%48 seats

Puducherry 8.7%1 seats

Himachal Pradesh 8.9%4 seats

Goa 9.3%2 seats

Jammu and Kashmir 9.6%6 seats

Delhi 10.4%7 seats

Uttar Pradesh 12.19%85 seats

[04]Candidates per seat

How crowded the ballot paper was

Delhi 33.9237 candidates

Haryana 32.4324 candidates

Chandigarh 27.027 candidates

Punjab 17.5227 candidates

Bihar 13.2711 candidates

Tamil Nadu 13.0506 candidates

Uttar Pradesh 12.81,087 candidates

Goa 12.525 candidates

Maharashtra 12.4593 candidates

Madhya Pradesh 12.3490 candidates

Rajasthan 12.2304 candidates

Puducherry 11.011 candidates

Kerala 10.9218 candidates

Jammu and Kashmir 10.563 candidates

[05]Party fragmentation

Effective number of parties by vote share · most fragmented first

Punjab 5.35 of 22 parties won

Bihar 4.18 of 28 parties won

Kerala 4.15 of 15 parties won

Uttar Pradesh 4.08 of 28 parties won

Jammu and Kashmir 3.83 of 9 parties won

Tamil Nadu 3.83 of 22 parties won

Manipur 3.71 of 9 parties won

Maharashtra 3.56 of 24 parties won

Rajasthan 3.43 of 14 parties won

Delhi 3.43 of 21 parties won

Gujarat 3.23 of 13 parties won

Madhya Pradesh 3.24 of 16 parties won

West Bengal 3.16 of 22 parties won

Karnataka 3.02 of 14 parties won

[06]Deposits lost

Candidates under a sixth of the valid vote

Haryana 93.83%304 of 324

Delhi 93.67%222 of 237

Chandigarh 92.59%25 of 27

Punjab 86.34%196 of 227

Jammu and Kashmir 85.71%54 of 63

Goa 84.0%21 of 25

Rajasthan 83.55%254 of 304

Tamil Nadu 83.2%421 of 506

Maharashtra 82.46%489 of 593

Madhya Pradesh 82.45%404 of 490

Puducherry 81.82%9 of 11

Kerala 81.65%178 of 218

Uttar Pradesh 81.42%885 of 1,087

Bihar 81.01%576 of 711

[07]Computed insights

Arithmetic over the table above, not commentary

Turnout ranged from 84.77% in Lakshadweep to 25.68% in Jammu and Kashmir — a spread of 59.1 points.
84.77 - 25.68 across 31 states
Chandigarh was the hardest fought: its middle seat was won by 1.83%, against 45.3% in Sikkim.
median winning margin, 1 seats against 1
Delhi had the most crowded ballot at 33.9 candidates a seat, and 93.67% of them lost their deposit.
237 candidates over 7 seats
13 states and UTs returned a clean sweep — every seat went to a single party.
13 of 31 scopes with PartiesWon = 1