Maharashtra, 2024. 1,121 candidates from 122 parties contested 48 seats; 7 parties won at least one.
Parties contesting
122
2024 · 7 of them won a seat
Largest party
13seats
Indian National Congress · 17.05% of votes
Deposits lost
90.99%
1,020 of 1,121 candidates
Effective parties
6.3
By vote share · lower means more dominant
Candidates per seat
23.4
1,121 for 48 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.
Indian National Congr…
17.05%13 seats · +10.04 pts
Bharatiya Janta Party
26.37%9 seats · -7.62 pts
Shiv Sena (uddhav Bal…
16.86%9 seats · +1.9 pts
Nationalist Congress…
10.34%8 seats · +6.33 pts
Shiv Sena
13.04%7 seats · +1.54 pts
Independent
5.35%1 seat · -3.27 pts
Nationalist Congress…
3.63%1 seat · -1.54 pts
Vanchit Bahujan Aagha…
2.79%0 seats · -2.79 pts
Rashtriya Samaj Paksha
0.82%0 seats · -0.82 pts
Bahujan Samaj Party
0.74%0 seats · -0.74 pts
All India Majlis-e-it…
0.61%0 seats · -0.61 pts
[03]Strike rate — candidates who won
2024 · parties fielding 5 or more
Nationalist Congress…
80.0%8/10
Indian National Congr…
76.47%13/17
Shiv Sena
46.67%7/15
Shiv Sena (uddhav Bal…
42.86%9/21
Bharatiya Janta Party
32.14%9/28
Independent
0.16%1/625
Vanchit Bahujan Aagha…
0.0%0/38
Bahujan Samaj Party
0.0%0/47
All India Majlis-e-it…
0.0%0/5
Samnak Janta Party
0.0%0/5
[04]Deposits lost
Candidates under a sixth of the valid vote · newest first
2024
90.99%1,020 of 1,121
2019
88.58%768 of 867
2014
89.19%800 of 897
2009
86.08%705 of 819
2004
75.0%309 of 412
1999
52.11%136 of 261
1998
74.01%279 of 377
1996
88.92%947 of 1,065
1991
86.78%748 of 862
1989
82.46%489 of 593
[05]How crowded the ballot got
Candidates per seat · newest first
2024
23.41,121 candidates
2019
18.1867 candidates
2014
18.7897 candidates
2009
17.1819 candidates
2004
8.6412 candidates
1999
5.4261 candidates
1998
7.9377 candidates
1996
22.21,065 candidates
1991
18.0862 candidates
1989
12.4593 candidates
[06]Independents
Candidates standing without a party · newest first
2024
6251 won
2019
4181 won
2014
4460 won
2009
4101 won
2004
1510 won
1999
781 won
1998
1720 won
1996
8060 won
1991
5570 won
1989
3523 won
[07]Computed insights
Arithmetic over the table above, not commentary
Indian National Congress took 27.08% of the seats on 17.05% of the votes — a seat bonus of +10.04 pts.
seat share 27.08 - vote share 17.05
Bharatiya Janta Party went the other way: 26.37% of votes returned only 18.75% of seats.
seat share 18.75 - vote share 26.37
90.99% of candidates lost their deposit in 2024 — 1,020 of 1,121 polled under a sixth of the valid vote.
1020/1121 below the one-sixth threshold
625 independents stood and 1 won — a strike rate of 0.16%.
1/625 independents
The field has grown more fragmented since 1962: the effective number of parties moved from 3.1 to 6.3.