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64 countries across the world would be holding elections in 2009.
This is the biggest year for electoral democracy in history, with governments ruling over 2.6 billion people seeking re-election. In India alone, there are more than 700 million voters. Important elections coming up in 2009 include Iran, South Africa, Japan, Afghanistan, Mexico and Palestinian Authority. 2.6bn people in 64 countries will vote |
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2009 General Elections would be the first time when the entire country, except the three States of Assam, Nagaland and Jammu & Kashmir, would be using the Photo Electoral Rolls. Out of 543 Parliamentary Constituencies, photo electoral roll will be used in 522 Parliamentary Constituencies as well as in all the Legislative Assembly Constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Orissa.
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The total electorate in the country is approximately 714 million as on 01.01.2009 compared to 671 million in 2004. This marks an increase of 43 million in the electorate.
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2009 General Elections will have 8, 28,804 polling stations in the country, as compared to 6, 87,402 polling stations during 2004 Lok Sabha elections. This marks an increase of 1, 41,402 polling stations. Of these, as many as, 12,901 new polling stations have been setup for villages having less than 300 electors with a view to address concerns of threat and intimidation to voters.
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In Karnataka Assembly elections, in 119-Santhemarahalli Assembly, the winning margin was ONLY ONE VOTE in 2004. |
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"The word candidate comes from the Latin `candidatus` meaning `one clad in white` and most, till this day carry on with this white!"
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" `Ballot` and `bullet` are both derived from words for `balls`. The Greeks dropped a white ball when they favoured a candidate, and a black when they were against. The term `blackballed` comes from this too!"
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“Ever heard of 1033 candidates for a single seat? Believe it or not, it did happened for the Modaurichi assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu in 1996. The ballot paper was in the form of a booklet!"
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" From its days of glory in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress in 1988 won exactly zero seats!""
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" Mayawati`s BSP and George W Bush`s Republican Party both have the same electoral symbol-the elephant!"
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“A B Vajpayee is the only parliamentarian to be elected from four different states- UP, Gujarat, MP and
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“The lowest voter turnout in a polling station is three! It happened in Bomdila district in Arunachal Pradesh!"
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“Elections in 1950s were carried out using different ballot boxes for each candidate, rather than voting on ballot paper! Different coloured boxes represented different parties!"
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“Lakshadweep has the largest presence of Muslims of all the states/UTs including
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"Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh is the only constituency in the Hindi belt which has always returned Congrss during the general elections!"
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" Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the only politician who has won from six different constituencies: Balrampur - 1957, 1967,
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"The highest voting percentage in any general elections has been 62.2 per cent in 1957; the lowest was in 1967 when only 33 per cent cast their vote. In the last general elections in 1999, 59.99 per cent had cast their votes!"
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" Rajnandgaon in Madhya Pradesh has a unique feature- father, mother and son have represented this constituency at different times!"
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"Designed by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. and Bharat Electronics Ltd, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were first used in Kerala. The highest number of candidates that an electronic voting machine can support is 64. If the number exceeds this, then manual ballot is used!"" |