Assembly poll winners represent few voters

Figures compiled by a think-tank show that winners in the last assembly polls got only a small number of votes, a majority of them securing less than 40 percent.

According to a report compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms and the National Election Watch, 99 percent of Delhi and 98 percent of Rajasthan law-makers who won in the 2008 assembly polls represent less than 40 percent of their electorate.

In Madhya Pradesh, 93 percent of the winners represent less than 40 percent of the voters, while this ratio is 91 percent in Chhattisgarh and 93 percent in Mizoram.

In Delhi, S.C.L. Gupta from Sangam Vihar constituency and Parvez Hashmi from Okhla constituency won with least percentage of votes - barely 14 percent.

Sheila Dikshit, chief minister of Delhi, won with a vote share of 52 percent and represents 29 percent of total voters from the New Delhi constituency.

Vote share is the ratio between total number of votes for the winner and total number of valid votes. Representativeness is the ratio of number of votes polled for the winner and total number of registered voters in the area.

In Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot won with 55 percent vote share and 31 percent representativeness from Sardarpura constituency.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of Rajasthan, won with the highest representativeness of 45 percent from Budhni constituency.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh got vote share of 59 percent from his constituency Rajnandgaon and representativeness of 47 percent.

Liantlinga from Aizawl South-I constituency won with the lowest percentage of votes out of the total electorate (26 percent), the report said.