Close to 389 million valid votes were cast in India’s previous General Election in 2004 to the 14th Lok Sabha, according to the Election Commission’s volume STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 2004 TO THE 14th LOK SABHA VOLUME III (DETAILS FOR ASSEMBLY SEGMENTS OF PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES).
Unfortunately, the Election Commission, like the Government of India in general, remains extremely uncomfortable with using Excel or any spreadsheets at all, and hence much of the information they provide remains unproductive — reflecting, I am afraid, rather obsolescent technology and organisation and management. From an Excel spreadsheet I have had to create for myself using EC data, my calculations give the following breakdown of the votes received in 2004 by most of the larger political parties:
2004 Lok Sabha Elections
ADMK AllIndiaAnnaDravidaMunnetraKazhagam 8,547,014
AGP AsomGanaParishad 2,069,600
AIFB AllIndiaForwardBloc 1,365,055
AITC AllIndiaTrinamoolCongress 7,863,220
BJD BijuJanataDal 5,082,849
BJP BharatiyaJanataParty 86,181,116
BSP BahujanSamajParty 21,037,968
CPI CommunistPartyofIndia 5,484,111
CPI(ML)(L) CommunistPartyofIndia(Marxist-Leninist)(Liberation) 1,280,240
CPM CommunistPartyofIndia(Marxist) 22,065,283
DMK DravidaMunnetraKazhagam 7,064,393
INC IndianNationalCongress 103,118,475
IND Independents 16,523,857
INLD IndianNationalLokDal 1,918,943
JD(S) JanataDal(Secular) 5,732,296
JD(U) JanataDal(United) 9,129,366
JMM JharkhandMuktiMorcha 1,846,843
MDMK MarumalarchiDravidaMunnetraKazhagam 1,679,870
PMK PattaliMakkalKatchi 2,169,020
NCP NationalistCongressParty 7,019,236
RJD RashtriyaJanataDal 9,384,147
RLD RashtriyaLokDal 2,463,603
RSP RevolutionarySocialistParty 1,689,794
SAD ShiromaniAkaliDal 3,506,681
SHS ShivSena 7,050,432
SP SamajwadiParty 16,822,902
TDP TeluguDesam 11,844,811
TRS TelanganaRashtraSamithi 2,441,405
That accounts for 372,382,530. The precise total of valid votes that I get by tabulating EC data using my spreadsheet is 388,920,557. The EC itself reports in the very same document a total of 388,672,504. The percentage difference is close enough to zero but it should be zero itself; I shall be delighted if my spreadsheet’s total is the incorrect one somehow, even though it uses the EC’s own data; but it does lead me to ask: “Who, if anyone, audits the Election Commission’s numerical calculations and vote tallies? Why is India’s ordinary public not informed about all this and other processes of the Election Commission perfectly transparently as a matter of routine? Is reform necessary of the processes and procedures of the Election Commission itself?”.
(Incidentally, the slight discrepancy in the totals could have arisen perhaps because my spreadsheet does, correctly, include the relatively small number of postal ballots, whereas the EC’s total possibly has not done.)
Raw votes like those described above do not of course translate directly into seats in Parliament but even so they indicate the state of popular political opinion in 2004. By how much will that popular opinion be found to have changed in 2009? How will demographic changes, and the delimitation exercise that has redrawn constituencies, affect the new outcomes? These are the kind of grown-up adult questions to ask yourself if you get bored with the endless pretentious waffle that emerges from our talking-heads on TV etc regarding the ongoing election.
Notice too the 16.5 million people of India who voted in 2004 for Independents! What on earth has made Dr Manmohan Singh recently initiate an absurd debate against them?
Here below as well is the full list of all parties that were in contention in 2004; if you want to know the vote-share any of them received according to my spreadsheet, send in a comment to this post and I shall try to respond. Better still, look up the EC volume mentioned and create your own spreadsheet from its data, and tell me how accurate mine is. (But beware, the spreadsheet will have some 60,000 rows to start with!)
Subroto Roy
List of parties in 2004
AB AkhandBharti
ABCD(A) AkhilBharatiyaCongressDal(Ambedkar)
ABDBM AkhilBharatiyaDeshBhaktMorcha
ABHM AkhilBharatHinduMahasabha
ABHS AkhilBharatiyaSena
ABJS AkhilBharatiyaJanSangh
ABLTASJM AkhilBharatiyaLokTantrikAlp-SankhyakJanMorcha
ABLTP AkhilBharatiyaLoktantraParty
ABRAHP AkhilBharatiyaRashtriyaAzadHindParty
ABRS AkhilBharatiyaRajaryaSabha
AC ArunachalCongress
AD ApnaDal
ADMK AllIndiaAnnaDravidaMunnetraKazhagam
AGP AsomGanaParishad
AIFB AllIndiaForwardBloc
AIMF AllIndiaMinoritiesFront
AIMIM AllIndiaMajlis-E-IttehadulMuslimeen
AITC AllIndiaTrinamoolCongress
AJSU AllJharkhandStudentsUnion
AKMDMP AllKeralaM.G.R.DravidaMunnetraParty
AMB AmraBangalee
ANC AmbedkarNationalCongress
AP AwamiParty
ARP AmbedkaristRepublicanParty
ASDC AutonomousStateDemandCommittee
ASP AmbedkarSamajParty
BBM BharipaBahujanMahasangha
BBP BharatiyaBackwardParty
BED BharatiyaEktaDal
BEP BharatiyaEklavyaParty
BGTD BharatiyaGaonTajDal
BJD BijuJanataDal
BJP BharatiyaJanataParty
BJVP BharatiyaJanvadiParty
BKD BahujanKisanDal
BKLJP BharatKiLokJimmedarParty
BKRP BharatKrantiRakshakParty
BLKD BharatiyaLokKalyanDal
BLP BharatiyaLabourParty
BMP(AI) BharatiyaMuhabbatParty(AllIndia)
BMSM BharatiyaMinoritiesSurakshaMahasangh
BMVP BharatiyaManavataVikasParty
BNP BharatiyaNavshaktiparty
BNRP BharatiyaNagrikParty
BPSGKD BharatiyaPrajatantrikShudhGandhiwadiKrishakDal
BPSP BiharPeople’sParty
BPTP BharatiyaPrajatantraParty
BRP BharatiyaRashtravadiPaksha
BRPP BharatiyaRepublicanPaksha
BSDP BhartiSarvadarshiParishad
BSJM BharatiyaSurajyaManch
BSK BharatiyaSarvkalayanKrantiDal
BSP BahujanSamajParty
BVP BahujanVikasParty
CPI CommunistPartyofIndia
CPI(ML)(L) CommunistPartyofIndia(Marxist-Leninist)(Liberation)
CPM CommunistPartyofIndia(Marxist)
CSP ChhattisgarhiSamajParty
DBP DeshBhaktParty
DBSP DemocraticBharatiyaSamajParty
DMK DravidaMunnetraKazhagam
EKD(UP) EktaKrantiDalU.P.
ES EktaShakti
EU EphraimUnion
FCI FederalCongressofIndia
FPM FederalPartyofManipur
GGP GondvanaGantantraParty
HEAP HinduEktaAndolanParty
HJP HindustanJantaParty
HM HindMorcha
HVP HaryanaVikasParty
IBSP IndianBahujanSamajwadiParty
IFDP IndianFederalDemocraticParty
IJP IndianJusticeParty
INC IndianNationalCongress
IND Independent
INL IndianNationalLeague
INLD IndianNationalLokDal
JCP JanChetnaParty
JD(S) JanataDal(Secular)
JD(U) JanataDal(United)
JDP JharkhandDisomParty
JHP JaiHindParty
JHSP JanhitSamajParty
JJ JebamaniJanata
JKAL JammuAndKashmirAwamiLeague
JKN Jammu&KashmirNationalConference
JKNPP Jammu&KashmirNationalPanthersParty
JKP JharkhandParty
JKP(N) JharkhandParty(Naren)
JKPDP Jammu&KashmirPeoplesDemocraticParty
JKPP JharkhandPeople’sParty
JMM JharkhandMuktiMorcha
JMP JanmangalPaksh
JP JanataParty
JSP JansattaParty
JUM JanaUnnayanMancha
JVP JanataVikasParty
KEC KeralaCongress
KEC(M) KeralaCongress(M)
KKJHS KrantiKariJaiHindSena
KMM KrantikariManuwadiMorcha
KNDP KannadaNaduParty
KSVP KrantikariSamyavadiParty
KVSP KosiVikasParty
LBP LokBhalaiParty
LCP LoktantrikChetnaParty
LJNSP LokJanShaktiParty
LP(S) LabourParty(Secular)
LPI(V) LabourPartyOfIndia(V.V.Prasad)
LPSP LokpriyaSamajParty
LRP LokRajyaParty
LSD LokSewaDal
LSWP LoktantrikSamajwadiParty
MAG MaharashtrawadiGomantak
MB(S)P MoolBharati(S)Party
MBT MajlisBachaoTahreek
MC MominConference
MCO MarxistCo-Ordination
MCPI(S) MarxistCommunistPartyofIndia(S.S.Srivastava)
MDMK MarumalarchiDravidaMunnetraKazhagam
MJM ManavJagritiManch
MNF MizoNationalFront
MNVP ManuvadiParty
MPP ManipurPeople’sParty
MRRC MaharashtraRajivCongress
MRS MudirajRashtriyaSamithi
MUL MuslimLeagueKeralaStateCommittee
NBNP NavbharatNirmanParty
NCP NationalistCongressParty
NLP NationalLoktantrikParty
NMNP NidayaMalik(N)Party
NPF NagalandPeoplesFront
NPF NagalandPeoplesFront
NSP NationalStudentsParty
NSSP NiswarthSewaParty
NSTP NaariShaktiParty
NTRTDP(LP) NTRTeluguDesamParty(LakshmiParvathi)
PBLP PhuleBhartiLokParty
PBRML PaschimBangaRajyaMuslimLeague
PDP PeoplesDemocraticParty
PDS PartyforDemocraticSocialism
PHSP PichhraSamajParty
PMK PattaliMakkalKatchi
PMP ParmarthParty
PMSP PragatisheelManavSamajParty
PP PrajaParty
PPOI PyramidPartyofIndia
PRBP PeoplesRepublicanParty
PRCP PrabuddhaRepublicanParty
PRP PanchayatRajParty
PSJP ParivartanSamajParty
PTSS ProutistSarvaSamajParty
PWPI PeasantsAndWorkersPartyofIndia
RCP RashtravadiCommunistParty
RCPI(R) RevolutionaryCommunistPartyofIndia(RasikBhatt)
RGD RashtriyaGaribDal
RHD RashtriyaHamaraDal
RJAP RashtriyaJanadhikarParty
RJD RashtriyaJanataDal
RJVP RajasthanVikasParty
RKSP RashtriyaKrantikariSamajwadiParty
RLD RashtriyaLokDal
RLD RashtriyaLokDal
RLSM RashtriyaLokSevaMorcha
RPD RashtriyaParivartanDal
RPI RepublicanPartyofIndia
RPI(A) RepublicanPartyofIndia(A)
RPI(D) RepublicanPartyOfIndia(Democratic)
RPI(KH) RepublicanPartyOfIndia(Khobragade)
RSBP RashtriyaSwabhimaanParty
RSD RashtriyaSawarnDal
RSGP RashtriyaGarimaParty
RSKP RashtriyaSakarParty
RSMD RashtriyaSamantaDal
RSNP RashtriyaSamajikNayakPaksha
RSP RevolutionarySocialistParty
RSP RevolutionarySocialistParty
RSPS RashtriyaSamajPaksha
RVNP RashtravadiJanataParty
RVP RashtriyaVikasParty
SAD ShiromaniAkaliDal
SAD(M) ShiromaniAkaliDal(SimranjitSinghMann)
SAP SamataParty
SBS ShikshitBerozgarSena
SBSP SuheldevBhartiyaSamajParty
SDF SikkimDemocraticFront
SDP SocialisticDemocraticParty
SHRP SikkimHimaliRajyaParishad
SHS Shivsena
SHS Shivsena
SHSP ShoshitSamajParty
SJP(R) SamajwadiJanataParty(Rashtriya)
SLAP SocialActionParty
SLP(L) SocialistParty(Lohia)
SMSP SamataSamajParty
SP SamajwadiParty
SP SamajwadiParty
SPI SecularPartyofIndia
SPVD SampurnaVikasDal
SSD ShoshitSamajDal
SSJP SanatanSamajParty
SSP SikkimSangramParishad
SVRP ShivrajyaParty
SVSP SavarnSamajParty
SWD SwarajDal
SWJP SamajwadiJanParishad
TDK TamilDesiyakKatchi
TDP TeluguDesam
TNGP TrinamoolGanaParishad
TRS TelanganaRashtraSamithi
UGDP UnitedGoansDemocraticParty
UKKD UttarakhandKrantiDal
UMFA UnitedMinoritiesFront,Assam
USYP UrsSamyukthaPaksha
VJC VidharbhaJanataCongress
VJP VijetaParty
VP VikasParty
VRP VidharbhaRajyaParty
YGP YuvaGantantraParty
YSP YouthandStudentsParty