Analysis · side by side

The states, ranked

Vidhan Sabha 2026. 5 states and union territories, 824 seats, ranked side by side.

States compared

2026 · 824 seats in total

Closest contests

5.7%

Tamil Nadu · median margin

Most crowded ballot

17.2

Tamil Nadu · candidates per seat

[02]How close the contests were

Median winning margin · closest first

Tamil Nadu 5.7%234 seats

Puducherry 8.91%30 seats

Kerala 9.54%140 seats

West Bengal 12.03%294 seats

Assam 26.96%126 seats

None of the above, as a share of votes cast

Assam 1.23%2,67,191 votes

West Bengal 0.78%4,95,716 votes

Puducherry 0.77%6,633 votes

Kerala 0.57%1,23,067 votes

Tamil Nadu 0.41%1,99,801 votes

How crowded the ballot paper was

Tamil Nadu 17.24,023 candidates

West Bengal 10.02,926 candidates

Puducherry 9.8294 candidates

Kerala 6.3883 candidates

Assam 5.7722 candidates

Effective number of parties by vote share · most fragmented first

Puducherry 6.49 of 25 parties won

Kerala 6.012 of 41 parties won

Tamil Nadu 4.312 of 104 parties won

Assam 4.07 of 29 parties won

West Bengal 2.66 of 62 parties won

Candidates under a sixth of the valid vote

Tamil Nadu 83.32%3,352 of 4,023

West Bengal 78.67%2,302 of 2,926

Puducherry 74.83%220 of 294

Kerala 63.76%563 of 883

Assam 63.3%457 of 722

Arithmetic over the table above, not commentary

Tamil Nadu was the hardest fought: its middle seat was won by 5.7%, against 26.96% in Assam.
median winning margin, 234 seats against 126
Tamil Nadu had the most crowded ballot at 17.2 candidates a seat, and 83.32% of them lost their deposit.
4,023 candidates over 234 seats
NOTA was highest in Assam at 1.23% — 2,67,191 voters rejected every candidate on the paper.
267,191 NOTA votes over 126 seats