19 May,2014 04:31 PM IST | | Hormaz Fatakia
The 16th Lok Sabha elections in the country handed a clear mandate to Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Here are some interesting facts related to this landmark election
The 16th Lok Sabha elections in the country handed a clear mandate to Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Here are some interesting facts related to this landmark election:
1. Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister to have contested from two different constituencies (Vadodara and Varanasi) and won from both of them.
PM designate Narendra Modi has been elected from both Varanasi and Vadodara
2. For the first time after 1984, no party has the required number of seats to qualify as the principle opposition party. To qualify as the principle opposition party, one needs 54 seats that is 1/10th of the total Lok Sabha strength.
3. A whopping 349 out of the 543 candidates that is close to 65% of the elected Lok Sabha have won by a margin greater than one lakh votes.
4. Only 53% of the total members of the elected Lok Sabha are under the age of 55.
5. Only 12 MPs in the new Lok Sabha are under the age of 30. Dushyant Chautala, Heena Gavit at 26 qualify as the youngest MPs while LK Advani at 86 is the oldest MP.
Heena Gavit (L) at 26 is one of the youngest MPs, while LK Advani (R) at 86 is the oldest
6. The number of crorepati MPs in the current Lok Sabha has increased from 315 in 2009 to 449.
7. Jaydev Galla, the TDP MP from Guntur is the richest member of the Lok Sabha with assets worth Rs. 683 crore, while Sumedha Nand Saraswati, the BJP MP from Sikar in Rajasthan has the least assets worth Rs. 34, 311.
8. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Aam Aadmi Party are the only two other parties after the Congress and the BJP to have contested for over 400 Lok Sabha seats. While AAP could manage only four seats, in a massive shock to the BSP, it failed to open its account and drew a blank!
9. The turnout of voters in the current election was 66.2%. It was the highest ever turnout, beating the previous one of 64% in the elections of 1984 and significantly higher than the 58.2% in 2009.
Polling records took a tumble this election as over 66% of the voters exercised their franchise
10. Delhi and Mumbai are the only two places, comprising of more than five seats, where candidates on all the seats (Seven and Six respectively) won by over one lakh votes. All the 13 seats were won by NDA candidates.
