Don't like the winning candidate? Well, most did not

No winning candidate from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) secured more than 50 per cent votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The winners of the Lok Sabha 2014 elections won by an average of 47% of total votes polled, according to a research by Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch.
In the last Lok Sabha election, 331 (61%) winners won with less than 50% of total votes polled in their constituencies; 99 (18%) winners won with less than 40% of total votes polled in their constituency; and four winners have won with less than 30% of total votes polled in their constituency.

Thupstan Chhewang of BJP won the lowest vote share (26%) in Ladakh constituency, followed by Ravneet Singh Bittu (27%) of Congress in Ludhiana constituency. Two other among the four winner with the lowest vote share were Prof. Azmeera Seetaram Naik (29%) of TRS from Mahabubabad and Md. Salim (29%) of CPI(M) from Raiganj.

The winner with highest vote share was Jardosh Darshnaben Vikrambhai of BJP from Surat Constituency, who won with a vote share of 76%. He was followed by Narendra Modi of BJP from Vadodara constituency with 73% of total votes polled and Patil Chandrakant Raghunath of BJP from Navsari constituency with 71% of total votes polled in the constituency.


The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led when it came to vote shares of candidates. Out of 282 winners of BJP, 142 (50%) won with less than 50% of total votes polled in their constituency. 37 (84%) out of 44 winners from INC, 30 (81%) out of 37 winners from AIADMK, 28 (82%) out of 34 winners from AITC, 13 (65%) out of 20 winners from BJD and 6 (33%) out of 18 winners from Shiv Sena won with less than 50% of total votes polled in their constituency.

Many of those who are not satisfied with the quality of elected representatives in the Lok Sabha blame the masses for choosing the wrong candidate by ignoring his education level, criminal or corruption record or commitment to public service. The above numbers prove that's not true. In the first-past-the-post voting system that India follows for most elections, the winner just has to get more votes than each of the rival candidates.

All the winners of the Lok Sabha 2014 elections won with an average of 31% of the total registered voters. This implies that the winners represent on an average, 31% of the total electorate. In Lok Sabha elections 2009, the winners won by an average of 26% of the total registered voters. This implies that the winners in 2009, represented on an average, 26% of the total electorate. The percentage of representativeness was calculated by dividing the votes polled for the winner by the electorate i.e. the total number of registered voters. This value represents the percentage of votes won by the winning candidate among the total number of registered voters in the constituency. The percentage of vote share was calculated by dividing the votes polled for the winner by the total number of valid votes. This value represents the percentage of votes won by the winning candidate among the total number of valid votes polled.