West Bengal, 2024. 504 candidates from 44 parties contested 42 seats; 3 parties won at least one.
Parties contesting
44
2024 · 3 of them won a seat
Largest party
29seats
All India Trinamool Congress · 46.17% of votes
Deposits lost
81.94%
413 of 504 candidates
Effective parties
2.7
By vote share · lower means more dominant
Candidates per seat
12.0
504 for 42 declared seats
[02]Vote share against seat share
2024 · bar is vote share, marker is seat share
First-past-the-post rarely pays out in proportion. The bar is the share of votes a
party won; the marker is the share of seats it took. A marker to the right of its
bar means the system paid the party more seats than its votes alone would buy.
All India Trinamool C…
46.17%29 seats · +22.88 pts
Bharatiya Janta Party
39.09%12 seats · -10.52 pts
Indian National Congr…
4.72%1 seat · -2.34 pts
Communist Party of In…
5.73%0 seats · -5.73 pts
Independent
1.53%0 seats · -1.53 pts
All India Secular Fro…
1.09%0 seats · -1.09 pts
[03]Strike rate — candidates who won
2024 · parties fielding 5 or more
All India Trinamool C…
69.05%29/42
Bharatiya Janta Party
28.57%12/42
Indian National Congr…
7.69%1/13
Communist Party of In…
0.0%0/23
Independent
0.0%0/195
All India Secular Fro…
0.0%0/17
Bahujan Samaj Party
0.0%0/40
Socialist Unity Centr…
0.0%0/42
Ambedkarite Party of…
0.0%0/8
Bharatiya Nyay-adhika…
0.0%0/9
[04]Deposits lost
Candidates under a sixth of the valid vote · newest first
2024
81.94%413 of 504
2019
80.9%377 of 466
2014
76.48%361 of 472
2009
76.36%281 of 368
2004
75.49%268 of 355
1999
70.55%218 of 309
1998
64.71%176 of 272
1996
78.84%313 of 397
1991
77.1%303 of 393
1989
74.7%251 of 336
[05]How crowded the ballot got
Candidates per seat · newest first
2024
12.0504 candidates
2019
11.1466 candidates
2014
11.2472 candidates
2009
8.8368 candidates
2004
8.5355 candidates
1999
7.4309 candidates
1998
6.5272 candidates
1996
9.5397 candidates
1991
9.4393 candidates
1989
8.0336 candidates
[06]Independents
Candidates standing without a party · newest first
2024
1950 won
2019
1130 won
2014
830 won
2009
1161 won
2004
1460 won
1999
1220 won
1998
970 won
1996
1940 won
1991
1540 won
1989
1440 won
[07]Computed insights
Arithmetic over the table above, not commentary
All India Trinamool Congress took 69.05% of the seats on 46.17% of the votes — a seat bonus of +22.88 pts.
seat share 69.05 - vote share 46.17
Bharatiya Janta Party went the other way: 39.09% of votes returned only 28.57% of seats.
seat share 28.57 - vote share 39.09
81.94% of candidates lost their deposit in 2024 — 413 of 504 polled under a sixth of the valid vote.
413/504 below the one-sixth threshold
195 independents stood and 0 won — a strike rate of 0.0%.
0/195 independents
The field has grown more concentrated since 1952: the effective number of parties moved from 4.2 to 2.7.