Over 10.58 lakh votes were not counted or rejected in the Lok Sabha election: Election Commission data

Representational image only. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Over 10.58 lakh votes were not counted or rejected in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year, according to the detailed statistical report released by the Election Commission of India on Thursday.

Out of these 5,35,825 were postal votes and 5,22,513 were votes cast in Electronic Voting Machines.

According to the data, which was released as part of a comprehensive set of 42 statistical reports for the Lok Sabha election 2024, more than 97.97 crore citizens had registered themselves as voters as compared to over 91.19 crore in 2019, which is an increase of 7.43%.

Out of these registered electors, 64.64 crore cast votes in 2024. Of the votes cast, 63.89 crore were valid.

While three votes cast in the election were proxy votes, 9,634 were “tendered” votes, which means that there were incidents where impersonators voted in the name of genuine voters and there were complaints.

Only one Parliamentary constituency of Surat (Gujarat) was uncontested.

The total number of polling stations were 10,51,016 and the average number of electors per polling station was 930. There was re-polling in 40 polling stations.

While the number of nominations filed in the Lok Sabha polls stood at 12,459, only 8,360 qualified to contest after rejection of nominations and withdrawals. Of those who contested, 7,190 candidates (86%) lost their deposits as they failed to garner more than one-sixth of the votes polled.

There were 3,921 Independent candidates of whom only seven managed to win. None of the 279 women Independent candidates won.

As compared to 726 in 2019, the number of women candidates increased to 800 in 2024, while the number of women voters rose to 47.63 crore in 2024 from 43.85 crore in 2019. The female voter turnout increased from 65.55% to 65.78%.

As far as the political parties were concerned, the six national parties bagged over 63% share of the total valid votes. They are the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Aam Aadmi Party and the National People’s Party.

Besides the six recognised national parties, 47 recognised State parties and 690 registered, unrecognised political parties contested the Parliamentary polls, according to statistical data issued by the Election Commission.