Bihar, 2024. 494 candidates from 96 parties contested 40 seats; 8 parties won at least one.
Parties contesting
96
2024 · 8 of them won a seat
Largest party
12seats
Bharatiya Janta Party · 20.97% of votes
Deposits lost
83.2%
411 of 494 candidates
Effective parties
6.6
By vote share · lower means more dominant
Candidates per seat
12.4
494 for 40 declared seats
[02]Vote share against seat share
2024 · bar is vote share, marker is seat share
First-past-the-post rarely pays out in proportion. The bar is the share of votes a
party won; the marker is the share of seats it took. A marker to the right of its
bar means the system paid the party more seats than its votes alone would buy.
Bharatiya Janta Party
20.97%12 seats · +9.04 pts
Janata Dal (united)
18.91%12 seats · +11.09 pts
Lok Janshakti Party(r…
6.61%5 seats · +5.89 pts
Rashtriya Janata Dal
22.64%4 seats · -12.64 pts
Indian National Congr…
9.4%3 seats · -1.9 pts
Communist Party of In…
3.06%2 seats · +1.94 pts
Independent
6.57%1 seat · -4.07 pts
Hindustani Awam Morch…
1.16%1 seat · +1.34 pts
Vikassheel Insaan Par…
2.79%0 seats · -2.79 pts
Bahujan Samaj Party
1.79%0 seats · -1.79 pts
Communist Party of In…
1.34%0 seats · -1.34 pts
All India Majlis-e-it…
0.9%0 seats · -0.9 pts
Communist Party of In…
0.89%0 seats · -0.89 pts
Rashtriya Lok Morcha
0.6%0 seats · -0.6 pts
[03]Strike rate — candidates who won
2024 · parties fielding 5 or more
Lok Janshakti Party(r…
100.0%5/5
Janata Dal (united)
75.0%12/16
Bharatiya Janta Party
70.59%12/17
Indian National Congr…
33.33%3/9
Rashtriya Janata Dal
17.39%4/23
Independent
0.55%1/183
Bahujan Samaj Party
0.0%0/38
All India Majlis-e-it…
0.0%0/8
Rashtriya Jansambhavn…
0.0%0/17
Peoples Party of Indi…
0.0%0/13
[04]Deposits lost
Candidates under a sixth of the valid vote · newest first
2024
83.2%411 of 494
2019
87.22%546 of 626
2014
84.51%513 of 607
2009
86.76%583 of 672
2004
81.17%375 of 462
1999
76.66%381 of 497
1998
72.92%342 of 469
1996
91.51%1,325 of 1,448
1991
90.28%1,096 of 1,214
1989
81.01%576 of 711
[05]How crowded the ballot got
Candidates per seat · newest first
2024
12.4494 candidates
2019
15.7626 candidates
2014
15.2607 candidates
2009
16.8672 candidates
2004
11.6462 candidates
1999
9.2497 candidates
1998
8.7469 candidates
1996
26.81,448 candidates
1991
23.41,214 candidates
1989
13.2711 candidates
[06]Independents
Candidates standing without a party · newest first
2024
1831 won
2019
2310 won
2014
1690 won
2009
3042 won
2004
2000 won
1999
1871 won
1998
1790 won
1996
1,1031 won
1991
8350 won
1989
4290 won
[07]Computed insights
Arithmetic over the table above, not commentary
Janata Dal (united) took 30.0% of the seats on 18.91% of the votes — a seat bonus of +11.09 pts.
seat share 30.0 - vote share 18.91
Rashtriya Janata Dal went the other way: 22.64% of votes returned only 10.0% of seats.
seat share 10.0 - vote share 22.64
83.2% of candidates lost their deposit in 2024 — 411 of 494 polled under a sixth of the valid vote.
411/494 below the one-sixth threshold
183 independents stood and 1 won — a strike rate of 0.55%.
1/183 independents
The field has grown more fragmented since 1962: the effective number of parties moved from 3.9 to 6.6.