Lok Sabha elections 2024 | Infographic: State-wise voter turnout in the 2019 parliamentary polls

While the BJP-led NDA is confident of securing over 400 seats among the 543 that are going up for grabs this time, the fortunes of political parties hinge on electors coming out to vote en masse.

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are likely to be explosive, with the Narendra Modi-led BJP seeking a third consecutive term in power amid a largely unified pushback by the Opposition in the form of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.

The Lok Sabha elections are slated to be held April 19 onwards, in seven phases, with counting scheduled for June 4.

While the BJP-led NDA is confident of securing over 400 seats among the 543 that are going up for grabs, the fortunes of political parties hinge on electors coming out to vote en masse.

That being said, India has not had the best record in terms of voter turnout over the years.

While voter turnout in the parliamentary elections in the country since 1952 have ranged between 55 to 68 per cent, it is still less than voter turnouts in other big democracies such as Indonesia and Brazil.

However, India has seen an uptick in electoral participation over the past two general elections, with the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls seeing 66.4 per cent and 67.4 per cent voter turnout respectively, the highest recorded in parliamentary elections since Independence.

In light of this, and with the Lok Sabha polls less than a month away, we take a look at voter turnouts across states and UTs in 2019 for a better picture of which regions saw high electoral participation.

A quick glance at the distribution of voter turnout across states and UTs reveals that the northeastern states (barring Mizoram) had voter turnouts above the national average of 67.4 per cent, as did all states along the east coast of India, namely, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

Other states and UTs that scored above the national average were Lakshadweep (with the highest, 85.2 per cent), Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, and Himachal Pradesh.

In terms of low voter turnouts, then-undivided Jammu and Kashmir fared the worst, recording a meagre turnout of 44.96 per cent, while Bihar and Uttar Pradesh followed with 57.33 per cent and 59.21 per cent respectively.