 "Polling officials, VVPATs, voting")
The stage is set for the General Elections, and the ball is in the court of electorates. It will be the largest democratic exercise in history. So will the ruling BJP snatch a record third term? Or the Opposition Congress and its allies will script a success story? This is something the ballot will decide now. But what was it like in 2019? Archis Mohan sheds light
2019 Lok Sabha elections snapshot
Total LS seats 543
Total electors: 911.9 million (91.19 crore)
(Total electors in 2014 LS polls was 834 million (83.4 crore)
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Male electors 473.4 million (47.34 crore)
Female electors 438.5 million (43.85 crore), which was 48.09% of total electorate
Third gender electors 39075
A look at 2019 General Election
In 2019, for the first time, turnout of women voters (as percentage of total women electors) was better than the turnout of male voters. The turnout of women voters was 67.18% while that of men was 67.02%. The number of electors between 18-29 years was 25.37%. While the number of electors between 30-59 years was 59.77%. Those between 60-79 years constituted 13.15%. While 1.71% voters were above 80 years of age. In that year, 614.7 million votes were cast, which included EVM and postal votes. That put the voter turnout at 67.4%.
Contestants
A total of 8054 contestants had tried their luck in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Of them, 7,322 were men and 726 women. While six candidates were from the third gender. Andhra Pradesh’s Nizamabad constituency had maximum 185 candidates. While Tura in Meghalaya had the least three contestants.
Electors
Telangana’s Malkajgiri constituency had the maximum 31.50 lakh voters, Lakshadweep LS constituency had the least 55,189 voters.
Maximum voter turnout
Assam’s Dhubri saw maximum enthusiasm as voter turnout was 90.66 per cent. While Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag had seen the minimum, just 8.98% turnout in 2019. There were 10,37,848 polling stations and the highest one was located at Tashigang in Mandi constituency at 15256 feet.
2019 LS elections were held over seven phases
2019 LS elections were held over seven phases
| Phase | No of PCs | Poll data |
| First phase | 91 | 11-Apr-19 |
| Second phase | 95 | 18-Apr-19 |
| Third phase | 117 | 23-Apr-19 |
| Fourth phase | 71 | 29-Apr-19 |
| Fifth phase | 50 | 06-May-19 |
| Sixth phase | 59 | 12-May-19 |
| Seventh phase | 59 | 19-May-19 |
Multi-phased states/UTs in 2019
| States/UTs | No. of phases |
| Bihar | 7 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 7 |
| West Bengal | 7 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 4 |
| Jharkhand | 4 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 4 |
| Maharashtra | 4 |
| Odisha | 4 |
| Assam | 3 |
| Chhattisgarh | 3 |
| Karnataka | 2 |
| Manipur | 2 |
| Rajasthan | 2 |
| Tripura | 2 |
Single-phased elections were held in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Puducherry, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
(Source: Election Commission of India)
