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?

INC DMK SAD ADMK CPM TDP BJP JNP JD JD(U)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

51% 50%49%

46%

43% 42%

34%31%

27% 26%

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

7241

286103 197

821

271

2926

1081 943

188

Win %

CandidatesThe number of elections

contested

Lok S

ab

ha

Year

A&N ISLANDS

ARAKKONAM

CHENGALPATTU

CHENNAI CENTRAL

CHENNAI NORTH

CHENNAI SOUTH

CHIDAMBARAM

COIMBATORE

CUDDALORE

DHARAPURAM

DHARMAPURI

DINDIGUL

ERODE

GOBICHETTIPALAYAM

KALLAKURICHI

KANNIYAKUMARI

KARUR

KRISHNAGIRI

KUMBAKONAM

MADRAS CENTRAL

MADRAS NORTH

MADRAS SOUTH

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?

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%

10%

20%

30%

40%

1%2%

4%

6%

9%

11%

14%

11%

16%18%

22% 22%

33%

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Win %The number of winning candidates as a % of candidates in the age group

CandidatesThe number of candidates in

each age group

Lok S

ab

ha (

2004 o

nw

ard

s)

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%

10%

20%

30%

2%

4%

6%

9%

12%

15%17%

15%16%

18% 18%

20%

27%

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

Win %The number of winning candidates as a % of candidates in the age group

CandidatesThe number of candidates in

each age group

Assem

bly

ele

cti

on

s (

2004 o

nw

ard

s)

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

MADMKMAMAKMDMK

Party names change

AIADMKADMKADK

Parties restructure

INC(I)INC

Constituency names mis-spelt

BHADRACHALAMBHADRACHELAMBHADRAHCALAM

State names mis-spelt

MadhyaPradeshMadhya Pradesh

Gender codes vary

Punjab uses ‘W’ instead of ‘F’

Number of columns vary

2008-2012 elections usetwo 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.