General Elections
Lok Sabha Elections, also called General Elections, take place once in 5 years to elect 545 members for the Lok Sabha (Lower house). Members of Lok Sabha (House of the People) or the lower house of India's Parliament are elected by being voted upon by all adult citizens of India, from a set of candidates who stand in their respective constituencies. Every adult citizen of India can vote only in their constituency. Candidates who win the Lok Sabha elections are called 'Member of Parliament' and hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi, on matters relating to creation of new laws, removing or improving the existing laws that affect all citizens of India.
The 17th Lok Sabha was elected in May 2019 and is the latest to date. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Lok Sabha Elections, also called General Elections, take place once in 5 years to elect 545 members for the Lok Sabha (Lower house). Members of Lok Sabha (House of the People) or the lower house of India's Parliament are elected by being voted upon by all adult citizens of India, from a set of candidates who stand in their respective constituencies. Every adult citizen of India can vote only in their constituency. Candidates who win the Lok Sabha elections are called 'Member of Parliament' and hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi, on matters relating to creation of new laws, removing or improving the existing laws that affect all citizens of India.
The 17th Lok Sabha was elected in May 2019 and is the latest to date. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
SUBJECT Variables
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- General elections for the 17th Lok Sabha in 2019 saw 8,026 candidates across India contesting for 543 Lok Sabha seats, in comparison to 8,251 candidates in the 2014 general elections.
- A record high of 670 political parties contested the 2019 general elections, in comparison to 464 parties in the 2014 elections.
- 633 (94%) of the 670 parties secured less than or equal to 0.1% votes individually and only 3.6% of total votes cast in the 2019 general elections collectively.
- India had 91 crore registered voters (electors) in the 2019 general elections, in comparison to 83.4 crore registered voters in 2014. Of these, 46.8 crore votes were male, 43.2 crore voters were females and 38K voters identified themselves as belonging to the third gender.
- 67.1% of the voters exercised their franchise in 2019, the highest turnout recorded in the general elections till date. This was 0.8% higher than the turnout in the 2014 general elections. The men's and women's turnout was at similar levels at 67% and 67.2% respectively.
- Rural constituencies had a higher turnout in the 2019 general elections at 69.7%, in comparison to semi-urban constituencies (66.7%) and urban constituencies (64.6%).
- Voter turnout in constituencies with heavy ST (Scheduled Tribes) concentration was 74.2% and those with SC (Scheduled Caste) concentration at 67.9%, much higher than the national average in 2019.
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