UP most multi-polar in 2004 LS elections

Reflecting the coalition-era politics, Uttar Pradesh witnessed a tight political race in which votes were split in many ways while Tamil Nadu saw a bi-polar situation with candidates getting a clear mandate in the last Lok Sabha elections.

A look at the outcome of the 2004 general elections shows that only 9 out of the 80 winning candidates in UP had secured 50 per cent or more votes polled.

In Tamil Nadu, however, 34 of the 39 seats were won by this margin. Percentage-wise, in Tamil Nadu over 87 per cent seats went to the candidates securing 50 per cent or more votes polled whereas in UP, only 11.25 per cent winning candidates could clear this mark.

In general, the Election Commission said that out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, there were only in 219 seats where candidates could secure 50 per cent or more votes in their respective constituencies.

"This meant that in the remaining 324 seats (nearly 60 per cent of total 543 seats), the winning candidates could not secure 50 per cent of total votes polled," it said.

Apart from Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, the widely varied pattern was also evident in some other states having large number of the parliamentary seats

In Andhra Pradesh, 29 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats were won by over 50 per cent or more votes while in Bihar with 40 seats, only 11 candidates could secure this much, the EC said.

Karnataka and Kerala also did not fare well on this count. While in Karnataka, only 5 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats could be won by over 50 per cent margin, Kerala sent only 4 candidates out of its 20 who secured over half the total votes polled.

Maharashtra fared slightly better with 15 out of the 38 Lok Sabha members being elected by over 50 per cent of votes polled. On the other hand, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Orissa sent more than half of their Members of Parliament with more than 50 per cent margin (West Bengal 23 out of 42, Rajasthan 14 out of 25 and Orissa 11 out of 21).

Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh were slightly behind on this count with the figures of 12 out of 26 and 13 out of 29 respectively.

In the states having relatively smaller number of seats, Assam could send only 1 of its 14 MPs having earned more than 50 per cent votes whereas Jharkhand sent 3 MPs with the similar number of seats and Punjab 3 out of 13.

While 1 winning candidate from Haryana out of the 10 could secure over half the votes polled, Delhi sent all its 7 MPs with over 50 per cent votes.