Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Bihar are the four biggest states in India in terms of Lok Sabha seats, accounting for 210 constituencies. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, just 25% seats – 53 parliamentary constituencies – saw improved voter turnout, while on the remaining seats, the voter turnout dropped compared to 2019.
Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of Lok Sabha seats at 80, followed by 48 in Maharashtra and 42 in West Bengal. Bihar is the fourth biggest state in this respect with 40 Lok Sabha seats. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal witnessed Lok Sabha polls in seven phases while Maharashtra voted in five phases.
An analysis of these 210 seats by News18 also showed that on just 64 of these seats, the women turnout was higher than 2019, while on 146, the women turnout was lower than the last time.
The analysis of the data from the Election Commission of India shows that in more than half – 110 seats – the elected party did not change from 2019. Of these 110 seats, 22 saw improved voter turnout, while in the remaining 88 the voter turnout dropped. Similarly, in the 100 seats where the elected party changed in 2024 when compared to 2019, 17 saw improved turnout, while 69 witnessed a drop from the last elections.
ALL SEATS IN WEST BENGAL SAW LOWER VOTER TURNOUT
In West Bengal, across all 42 seats, the voter turnout was less than that in 2019. In 31 seats, the elected party remained unchanged from 2019, while in 11, it was replaced with a new party. The Trinamool Congress won 22 seats in 2019 and improved its tally to 29 in 2024. The BJP, which won 18 seats in 2019, bagged 12 in 2024. The Congress stood third in both elections. Down from two seats in the last elections, the grand old party won just one constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Maldaha Uttar, Alipurduars, Darjeeling, Balurghat, and Maldaha Dakshin were the seats that reported the highest drop in voter turnout. All these have stayed with the respective parties they elected in 2019. Two seats in the state capital – Kolkata Dakshin (66.95%) and Kolkata Uttar (63.59%) – recorded lowest voter turnouts and were the only two seats with less than 70% voter turnout.
Across 16 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the turnout this time was between 70% and 80%, while 24 other seats recorded turnouts more than 80%. Compared to the average turnout of 81.67% in 2019, the state reported 79.19% this time.
Women turnout across 40 seats in the state witnessed a drop. Tamluk and Kanthi were the only seats that recorded marginal improvement in women turnout.
60% SEATS IN MAHARASHTRA SAW HIGHER TURNOUT
More than half – 27 seats – in Maharashtra saw higher voter turnout than 2019. In nine of these seats, the winning party remained the same. Further, of these 27 seats, 25 constituencies also saw higher women turnout than 2019.
In 35 seats, the winning party had changed this time from 2019. The actual picture, though, is a much more complex affair.
This was the first election in Maharashtra since two of the major state-level parties – Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena – were split into two factions. The rebel faction, in both cases, got the status and symbol of the original party.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar got eight seats. Two of these were bagged by the undivided NCP in 2019, while six were with the BJP. In 2019, the united NCP won four seats. This time, the NCP got only one seat that it bagged in 2019 – Raigad.
The Shiv Sena won seven seats this time, six of these bagged by the undivided party in 2019 and one of these won by AIMIM in the last election. The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey won nine seats – eight bagged by the undivided party in 2019 and one from the then ally BJP.
ONLY 7 SEATS SAW IMPROVED TURNOUT IN UP
In Uttar Pradesh, out of the 80 seats that witnessed Lok Sabha polls in seven phases, only seven seats saw higher voter turnout than 2019. All these seats – Mainpuri, Rae Bareli, Kanpur, Kaiserganj, Farrukhabad, Phulpur, and Baharaich — have re-elected the same party from 2019. On 73 seats, the voter turnout in 2024 was lower than in 2019.
The seats that witnessed sharp drop in voter turnout were — Mathura, Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat.
On 19 seats, the women turnout in 2024 was higher than 2019. The highest jump reported in Barabanki and Raebareli, both of which voted for the Congress. Mathura and Muzaffarnagar reported the highest drop in women turnout.
In Uttar Pradesh, in three seats, the voter turnout was less than 50% – Phulpur, Mathura and Ghaziabad. None of the Lok Sabha seats in UP reported voter turnout above 70%. Barabanki, Saharanpur and Kheri were the three seats with the highest voter turnout. In 2019, two seats in the state saw turnouts above 70% and only one had turnout below 50%.
In 2019, the average voter turnout of the state was 59.30%, but dropped to 57.04% in 2024, analysis shows.
ONLY 6 SEATS IN BIHAR SAW HIGHER TURNOUT
In Bihar, the situation was no better. Only six seats in the state saw higher voter turnout than 2019.
When compared to 2019, across 31 seats in Bihar, the same party or its allies were elected in 2024. On nine seats, the winning party changed from 2019. All these nine seats were with the BJP or the JD(U) in 2019. In three seats, the winning party changed, although the seat remained with the alliance party.
The average voter turnout in Bihar this time was 56.33%, down from 57.53% recorded in 2019.
In majority of the states, the voter turnout this time was lower than in 2019, despite EC’s efforts to improve the participation of the public in elections. The average voter turnout across the country was 65.79%, down from 67.4% in 2019.
