Analysis · side by side

The states, ranked

Lok Sabha 2009. 35 states and union territories, 543 seats, ranked side by side.

States compared

2009 · 543 seats in total

Highest turnout

90.0%

Nagaland

Lowest turnout

39.68%

Jammu and Kashmir

Closest contests

0.56%

Dadra and Nagar Haveli · median margin

Most crowded ballot

28.0

Puducherry · candidates per seat

[01]Turnout

Votes as a share of electors · 2009

Nagaland 90.0%1 seats

Lakshadweep 85.9%1 seats

Sikkim 85.55%1 seats

Tripura 84.8%2 seats

West Bengal 81.47%42 seats

Puducherry 79.81%1 seats

Manipur 76.99%2 seats

Kerala 73.53%20 seats

Dadra and Nagar Haveli 73.23%1 seats

Tamil Nadu 73.1%39 seats

Andhra Pradesh 72.63%42 seats

Daman and Diu 71.32%1 seats

Punjab 69.75%13 seats

Assam 69.52%14 seats

[02]How close the contests were

Median winning margin · closest first

Dadra and Nagar Haveli 0.56%1 seats

Andaman and Nicobar I… 1.76%1 seats

Goa 3.4%2 seats

Himachal Pradesh 3.75%4 seats

Gujarat 4.1%26 seats

Punjab 4.1%13 seats

Karnataka 4.35%28 seats

Jharkhand 4.7%14 seats

Assam 5.3%14 seats

Madhya Pradesh 5.4%29 seats

Lakshadweep 5.56%1 seats

Andhra Pradesh 6.27%42 seats

Tamil Nadu 6.3%39 seats

Kerala 6.4%20 seats

[04]Candidates per seat

How crowded the ballot paper was

Puducherry 28.028 candidates

Delhi 22.9160 candidates

Tamil Nadu 21.1823 candidates

Haryana 21.0210 candidates

Jharkhand 17.8249 candidates

Uttar Pradesh 17.11,368 candidates

Maharashtra 17.1819 candidates

Bihar 16.8672 candidates

Punjab 16.8218 candidates

Chhattisgarh 16.2178 candidates

Karnataka 15.3427 candidates

Uttarakhand 15.276 candidates

Madhya Pradesh 14.8429 candidates

Chandigarh 14.014 candidates

[05]Party fragmentation

Effective number of parties by vote share · most fragmented first

Jharkhand 7.15 of 43 parties won

Bihar 6.85 of 67 parties won

Maharashtra 6.77 of 67 parties won

Tamil Nadu 6.47 of 42 parties won

Jammu and Kashmir 5.63 of 25 parties won

Uttar Pradesh 5.16 of 124 parties won

Assam 4.95 of 26 parties won

West Bengal 4.38 of 29 parties won

Andhra Pradesh 4.14 of 43 parties won

Haryana 4.02 of 38 parties won

Manipur 3.91 of 10 parties won

Kerala 3.74 of 19 parties won

Odisha 3.63 of 22 parties won

Meghalaya 3.62 of 8 parties won

[06]Deposits lost

Candidates under a sixth of the valid vote

Puducherry 92.86%26 of 28

Delhi 91.25%146 of 160

Tamil Nadu 90.52%745 of 823

Punjab 88.07%192 of 218

Haryana 87.62%184 of 210

Jharkhand 87.15%217 of 249

Bihar 86.76%583 of 672

Chhattisgarh 86.52%154 of 178

Maharashtra 86.08%705 of 819

Madhya Pradesh 85.78%368 of 429

Gujarat 85.24%306 of 359

Karnataka 84.78%362 of 427

Rajasthan 84.68%293 of 346

Uttar Pradesh 84.28%1,153 of 1,368

[07]Computed insights

Arithmetic over the table above, not commentary

Turnout ranged from 90.0% in Nagaland to 39.68% in Jammu and Kashmir — a spread of 50.31 points.
90.0 - 39.68 across 35 states
Dadra and Nagar Haveli was the hardest fought: its middle seat was won by 0.56%, against 40.6% in Nagaland.
median winning margin, 1 seats against 1
Puducherry had the most crowded ballot at 28.0 candidates a seat, and 92.86% of them lost their deposit.
28 candidates over 1 seats
14 states and UTs returned a clean sweep — every seat went to a single party.
14 of 35 scopes with PartiesWon = 1