New Delhi: As the nation gears up for the 16th Lok Sabha polls, India`s electorate has grown nearly five times from what it was during the first general elections in 1951-52.
Figures released by the Election Commission show that the electorate was 17.3212343 crore in 1951-52 and now for the general elections scheduled in April-May, it is 81.4591184 crore, which is a 4.7-fold increase.
Since last general elections in 2009, the total number of electors in the country has grown by around 9.7606083 crore. In 2009, the number of voters was 71.6985101 crore.
The electorate in 1998 general elections was 60.5880192 crore which has registered a growth of 34.45 per cent.
Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, has shown the maximum growth in the electorate as compared to 2004.
The number of voters was 10.1982480 crore in UP in 1998, which has risen to 13.4351297 crore now. In 2004, UP had 11.6006374 crore voters.
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have the largest number of voters, with UP constituting 16.5 per cent of the total electorate.
Together these five states constitute of 49.1 per cent of total electors in the country.
Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Nagaland put together comprise less than 0.5 per cent of the total electors.
Among the 28 states and 7 Union Territories, Dadra and Nagar Haveli registered the highest rate of growth in the electorate at 53.9 per cent during the period from 2004 to 2014, followed by Puducherry at 39.1 per cent.
West Bengal showed the highest rate of growth at 31.7 per cent the states category. Among all states and UTs, Andaman and Nicobar Islands registered the lowest rate of growth at 6.7 per cent followed by Jammu and Kashmir at 8.9 per cent.
While 98.27 per cent electors live in the states, the Union Territories constitute a mere 1.73 per cent of the total voters.
Gender-wise break up of the electors is available only since 1971 and it shows that the proportion of female electors recorded little variation since then, hovering between 47.4 and 48 per cent.
