VISUALISING ELECTIONS
S Anand, Gramener.com

Which party has the largest
number of victories in Lok Sabha
elections?

Which is the only other party has
won over 50% of every Lok Sabha
seat contested?

51% 50%
49%
46%
43% 42%
34%
31%
27% 26%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
INC DMK SAD ADMK CPM TDP BJP JNP JD JD(U)
7241
286
103 197
821
271
2926
1081 943
188
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
Win %
Candidates
The number of elections contested
LokSabha

Year
A&NISLANDS
ARAKKONAM
CHENGALPATTU
CHENNAICENTRAL
CHENNAINORTH
CHENNAISOUTH
CHIDAMBARAM
COIMBATORE
CUDDALORE
DHARAPURAM
DHARMAPURI
DINDIGUL
ERODE
GOBICHETTIPALAYAM
KALLAKURICHI
KANNIYAKUMARI
KARUR
KRISHNAGIRI
KUMBAKONAM
MADRASCENTRAL
MADRASNORTH
MADRASSOUTH
MADURAI
MAYILADUTHURAI
MAYURAM
METTUR
NAGAPATTINAM
NAGERCOIL
NAMAKKAL
NILGIRIS
PALANI
PERAMBALUR
PERIYAKULAM
POLLACHI
PUDUCHERRY
PUDUKKOTTAI
RAMANATHAPURAM
RASIPURAM
SALEM
SIVAGANGA
SIVAKASI
SRIPERUMBUDUR
TENKASI
THANJAVUR
THIRUVALLUR
THIRUVANNAMALAI
THOOTHUKKUDI
TINDIVANAM
TIRUCHENDUR
TIRUCHENGODE
TIRUCHIRAPPALLI
TIRUKOILUR
TIRUNELVELI
TIRUPPATTUR
TIRUTTANI
VANDAVASI
VELLORE
1962 2 4 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1
1967 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1971 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1977 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2
1980 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1984 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1989 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1991 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1996 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1998 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2
1999 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 1
2004 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2009 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1

Does age make a difference?
Do old candidates win less often?

1%
2%
4%
6%
9%
11%
14%
11%
16%
18%
22% 22%
33%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
25-30 30-35 35-40 40-45 45-50 50-55 55-60 60-65 65-70 70-75 75-80 80-85 85-90
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Win %
The number of winning candidates as a % of
candidates in the age group
Candidates
The number of candidates in each
age group
LokSabha(2004onwards)

2%
4%
6%
9%
12%
15%
17%
15%
16%
18% 18%
20%
27%
0%
10%
20%
30%
25-30 30-35 35-40 40-45 45-50 50-55 55-60 60-65 65-70 70-75 75-80 80-85 85-90
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
Win %
The number of winning candidates as a % of
candidates in the age group
Candidates
The number of candidates in each
age group
Assemblyelections(2004onwards)

On the other hand, which party
has the most losses in Lok Sabha
elections?

https://gramener.com/election/story.ddp

Which constituency had the
largest number of voters in 2009?

https://gramener.com/election/parliament

Which constituency had the most
number of candidates ever?

HOW CAN I DO ALL THIS?
Data & Tools

The good part is, the ECI website has this data.

… but, some of the data is in PDFs
This is in Excel, but watch out for errors

Parties are mis-spelt
MADMK
MAMAK
MDMK
Party names change
AIADMK
ADMK
ADK
Parties restructure
INC(I)
INC
Constituency names mis-spelt
BHADRACHALAM
BHADRACHELAM
BHADRAHCALAM
State names mis-spelt
MadhyaPradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Gender codes vary
Punjab uses ‘W’ instead of ‘F’
Number of columns vary
2008-2012 elections use
two columns for number of voters
Format of files vary

There’s enough data out there.
The tools you have that are good enough.
Let’s get people to see elections.