Independents confined to single digit in the last six Lok Sabha elections

The first Lok Sabha constituted in year 1952 had 37 independents, which was nearly 7% of the house. However, they started loosing ground gradually and the number dwindled down to mere 9 in the 15^th Lok Sabha. In the first General Elections (1952), out of 1874 contestants, 533(nearly 28%) were independents. Encouraged by the performance the participation increased to 31% in the next General Election (1957). The number of successful independents also increased significantly from 37 to 42.

             However, in 1962 Elections for 3^rd Lok Sabha, independents could not repeat the performance. Their number came down to 20 (from 42 in previous Lok Sabha), which represented a fall of more than 50%. However, in the 4^th Lok Sabha, the number of successful independents rose significantly to 35. Perhaps, it encouraged more independents to enter the fray and in the General Election of 1971 for 5^th Lok Sabha, almost 40% of all candidates contested as independents. However, only 14 could manage victory and 94% of them lost security deposits, as they could not muster one-sixth of the total votes polled.

            In spite of poor performance in 5^th General Elections, the number of independents contesting polls further rose in successive elections. For instance, in the 6^th General Elections, over 50% contested as independents. In the 7^th General Election, it rose to 61%. The 8^th General Elections witnessed a further increase with 71% aspirants contesting as independents. In the 11^th General Elections, 76% of total contestants were independents.

            After increase in security deposit in 1998, independents number came down to almost 40% of the total contestants in the 12^th General Elections.

% of Independent contestants out of total contestants.

The number of successful independents from 6^th to 15^th Lok Sabha remained confined to single digit except in the 9^th Lok Sabha, when 12 independents made their way to the House. It may also be mentioned here that in the last six Lok Sabha elections, the number of independents could never cross the digit of 9.

           

In 8^th General Election of 1984, 98% Independents lost their deposits. This trend continued from 10^th to 15^th Lok Sabha. During these elections 99% Independents lost their deposits.

% of Independent candidates having their deposits forfeited

Source : Election Commission of India

            In 15^th General Election, there were 47% independents out of total contestants, and only 9 candidates out of 3831 independent candidates were successful. 99.34% of independents got their deposits forfeited.

Courtesy: Press Information Bureau (pib.nic.in)