Analysis · side by side

The states, ranked

Lok Sabha 1999. 32 states and union territories, 543 seats, ranked side by side.

States compared

1999 · 543 seats in total

Highest turnout

81.71%

Sikkim

Lowest turnout

32.34%

Jammu and Kashmir

Closest contests

1.93%

Chandigarh · median margin

Most crowded ballot

16.0

Chandigarh · candidates per seat

[01]Turnout

Votes as a share of electors · 1999

Sikkim 81.71%1 seats

Lakshadweep 79.38%1 seats

Nagaland 76.25%1 seats

West Bengal 75.05%42 seats

Dadra and Nagar Haveli 73.09%1 seats

Arunachal Pradesh 72.15%2 seats

Assam 71.26%14 seats

Daman and Diu 70.35%1 seats

Kerala 70.19%20 seats

Tripura 68.14%2 seats

Karnataka 67.58%28 seats

Andhra Pradesh 67.2%42 seats

Manipur 65.67%2 seats

Mizoram 65.31%1 seats

[02]How close the contests were

Median winning margin · closest first

Chandigarh 1.93%1 seats

Kerala 3.25%20 seats

Manipur 4.05%2 seats

Tamil Nadu 5.0%39 seats

Puducherry 5.4%1 seats

Uttar Pradesh 5.53%85 seats

Andhra Pradesh 5.67%42 seats

Delhi 6.0%7 seats

Punjab 6.1%13 seats

Karnataka 6.35%28 seats

Daman and Diu 6.35%1 seats

Bihar 6.45%54 seats

Madhya Pradesh 8.39%40 seats

Gujarat 8.75%26 seats

[04]Candidates per seat

How crowded the ballot paper was

Chandigarh 16.016 candidates

Uttar Pradesh 14.21,208 candidates

Delhi 13.997 candidates

Jammu and Kashmir 13.883 candidates

Haryana 11.4114 candidates

Tamil Nadu 9.3362 candidates

Punjab 9.2120 candidates

Bihar 9.2497 candidates

Manipur 9.018 candidates

Puducherry 9.09 candidates

Madhya Pradesh 8.6344 candidates

Tripura 8.517 candidates

Assam 8.2115 candidates

Goa 8.016 candidates

[05]Party fragmentation

Effective number of parties by vote share · most fragmented first

Tamil Nadu 6.58 of 32 parties won

Manipur 5.62 of 11 parties won

Bihar 5.36 of 36 parties won

Uttar Pradesh 4.88 of 57 parties won

Maharashtra 4.88 of 25 parties won

Jammu and Kashmir 4.42 of 22 parties won

Meghalaya 4.42 of 10 parties won

West Bengal 4.47 of 20 parties won

Punjab 4.15 of 21 parties won

Kerala 4.05 of 15 parties won

Assam 3.84 of 20 parties won

Haryana 3.42 of 14 parties won

Dadra and Nagar Haveli 3.31 of 4 parties won

Puducherry 3.31 of 4 parties won

[06]Deposits lost

Candidates under a sixth of the valid vote

Chandigarh 87.5%14 of 16

Delhi 84.54%82 of 97

Jammu and Kashmir 81.93%68 of 83

Haryana 81.58%93 of 114

Uttar Pradesh 79.72%963 of 1,208

Punjab 76.67%92 of 120

Bihar 76.66%381 of 497

Tamil Nadu 76.52%277 of 362

Tripura 76.47%13 of 17

Madhya Pradesh 75.29%259 of 344

Goa 75.0%12 of 16

Manipur 72.22%13 of 18

Meghalaya 71.43%10 of 14

Mizoram 71.43%5 of 7

[07]Computed insights

Arithmetic over the table above, not commentary

Turnout ranged from 81.71% in Sikkim to 32.34% in Jammu and Kashmir — a spread of 49.37 points.
81.71 - 32.34 across 32 states
Chandigarh was the hardest fought: its middle seat was won by 1.93%, against 48.5% in Nagaland.
median winning margin, 1 seats against 1
Chandigarh had the most crowded ballot at 16.0 candidates a seat, and 87.5% of them lost their deposit.
16 candidates over 1 seats
13 states and UTs returned a clean sweep — every seat went to a single party.
13 of 32 scopes with PartiesWon = 1