Mar30 The filing of nominations for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls ends on Monday. 141 constituencies spread in 15 states and two Union Territories go to the polls in this phase. Scrutiny of nominations will be held on Tuesday. Last date for withdrawal of candidature is 2nd April. Polling will be held on 16th April. 154 of the 294 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and 70 of the 147 Assembly seats in Orissa also go to polls along with the Lok Sabha elections in the first phase.
Notification for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls scheduled to be held on 23rd April for 140 seats was also issued on Saturday.
Over the years, the number of candidates for Lok Sabha polls has seen a tremendous increase with the figure touching 10 contestants per constituency in 2004 compared to 3.83 in the first general elections held in 1952.
For the first Lok Sabha, there were only 1,874 candidates for 489 seats averaging 3.83 contestants per seat. This trend of having 3 to 5 candidates per seat continued till 1977 but it witnessed a big shift in 1980 when the elections for the seventh Lok Sabha were held.
A total of 4,629 candidates were in the fray for 542 seats in the general elections in 1980, thus averaging 8.54 contestants per seat. With constant increase in the number of contestants in the successive general elections, the average contestants also continued to rise gradually but in 1996, a sudden surge in average with 25.69 candidates per seat indicated an abnormal shift.
For the 11th Lok Sabha, there were a record number of 13,952 candidates in fray for 543 Lok Sabha seats, bringing the average to 25.69 from 15.96 in the previous elections held in 1991.
In 1998, the total number of contestants was 4,750. The number of contestants rose marginally in 1999 general elections to 4,648 averaging 8.56 candidates per seat. In the last elections held in 2004, the figure of contestants again crossed 5,000 mark with 5,435 contestants in fray for 543 Lok Sabha seats averaging just over 10 contestants per seat.