Analysis · side by side

The states, ranked

Lok Sabha 1998. 32 states and union territories, 543 seats, ranked side by side.

States compared

1998 · 543 seats in total

Highest turnout

84.56%

Lakshadweep

Lowest turnout

44.21%

Jammu and Kashmir

Closest contests

0.0%

Mizoram · median margin

Most crowded ballot

18.9

Delhi · candidates per seat

[01]Turnout

Votes as a share of electors · 1998

Lakshadweep 84.56%1 seats

Tripura 80.86%2 seats

West Bengal 79.27%42 seats

Dadra and Nagar Haveli 75.69%1 seats

Meghalaya 74.38%2 seats

Daman and Diu 71.73%1 seats

Kerala 70.66%20 seats

Mizoram 69.56%1 seats

Haryana 68.99%10 seats

Sikkim 67.14%1 seats

Himachal Pradesh 66.35%4 seats

Karnataka 64.92%28 seats

Andhra Pradesh 64.92%42 seats

Bihar 63.6%54 seats

[02]How close the contests were

Median winning margin · closest first

Mizoram 0.0%1 seats

Andaman and Nicobar I… 0.37%1 seats

Goa 1.45%2 seats

Manipur 2.25%2 seats

Daman and Diu 2.4%1 seats

Kerala 2.6%20 seats

Lakshadweep 3.1%1 seats

Chandigarh 3.67%1 seats

Andhra Pradesh 4.22%42 seats

Uttar Pradesh 5.18%85 seats

Tripura 6.85%2 seats

Delhi 6.9%7 seats

Tamil Nadu 7.5%39 seats

Rajasthan 7.5%25 seats

[04]Candidates per seat

How crowded the ballot paper was

Delhi 18.9132 candidates

Chandigarh 18.018 candidates

Jammu and Kashmir 14.386 candidates

Haryana 14.0140 candidates

Uttar Pradesh 12.21,037 candidates

Madhya Pradesh 10.0400 candidates

Andhra Pradesh 9.3390 candidates

Puducherry 9.09 candidates

Rajasthan 8.8219 candidates

Bihar 8.7469 candidates

Maharashtra 7.9377 candidates

Punjab 7.9102 candidates

Tamil Nadu 7.6296 candidates

Manipur 7.515 candidates

[05]Party fragmentation

Effective number of parties by vote share · most fragmented first

Tamil Nadu 6.19 of 22 parties won

Bihar 5.96 of 37 parties won

Manipur 5.42 of 9 parties won

Haryana 5.25 of 23 parties won

Punjab 4.74 of 20 parties won

Kerala 4.66 of 18 parties won

West Bengal 4.57 of 27 parties won

Assam 4.25 of 16 parties won

Jammu and Kashmir 3.93 of 16 parties won

Uttar Pradesh 3.86 of 67 parties won

Karnataka 3.84 of 25 parties won

Goa 3.71 of 5 parties won

Maharashtra 3.55 of 33 parties won

Andhra Pradesh 3.56 of 26 parties won

[06]Deposits lost

Candidates under a sixth of the valid vote

Chandigarh 88.89%16 of 18

Delhi 88.64%117 of 132

Jammu and Kashmir 84.88%73 of 86

Haryana 79.29%111 of 140

Madhya Pradesh 78.25%313 of 400

Uttar Pradesh 77.82%807 of 1,037

Meghalaya 76.92%10 of 13

Rajasthan 75.8%166 of 219

Maharashtra 74.01%279 of 377

Andhra Pradesh 73.85%288 of 390

Punjab 73.53%75 of 102

Tamil Nadu 72.97%216 of 296

Bihar 72.92%342 of 469

Odisha 66.67%90 of 135

[07]Computed insights

Arithmetic over the table above, not commentary

Turnout ranged from 84.56% in Lakshadweep to 44.21% in Jammu and Kashmir — a spread of 40.35 points.
84.56 - 44.21 across 32 states
Mizoram was the hardest fought: its middle seat was won by 0.0%, against 69.3% in Nagaland.
median winning margin, 1 seats against 1
Delhi had the most crowded ballot at 18.9 candidates a seat, and 88.64% of them lost their deposit.
132 candidates over 7 seats
13 states and UTs returned a clean sweep — every seat went to a single party.
13 of 32 scopes with PartiesWon = 1