New Delhi: Over 1,650 political parties including big names like BSP, CPI, DMK and National Conference drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections that saw BJP storming to power at the Centre with a landslide victory.
Currently, there are 1,687 registered political parties in the country.
Out of more than 8,200 candidates, who were in the fray, as many as 5,007 candidates were fielded by various parties and remaining were independents.
Out of these, 541 candidates have secured a place in the Lower House riding on tickets from 35 different political parties, while three contestants have won as independents.
The 2014 Lok Sabha election results have taken a lot of parties and trend-watchers by surprise with many prominent names among them failing to open their accounts.
Among the parties who scored a zero include – Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK), National Conference (NC), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) also failed to open their respective accounts in the hustings.
As per Election Commission figures, BJP has come out with flying colours in these elections winning 282 seats on its own, while it got nearly 17.16 crore votes accounting for 31 per cent vote share.
The Indian National Congress, which has been left with just 44 seats, has managed to get 10.7 crore votes or about 19.3 per cent share.
On the vote share front, BSP has interestingly come third with 4.1 per cent vote share or 2.3 crore votes, but it has got zero seats in its kitty. Its candidates came second on 34 seats.
Interestingly, in the 15th Lok Sabha, Mayawati’s BSP had 21 MPs, DMK was represented by 18 seats, Ajit Singh-led RLD had secured five seats, CPI had scored four seats, Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference had 3 MPs and AGP had just one seat.
The election was literally a ‘wash out’ for these parties as Narendra Modi Friday led the BJP to an unprecedented victory in the Lok Sabha elections. Its tally of 282 seats marks the end of successive coalition governments since 1989.
With its allies, the BJP now has over 300 of the 543 parliamentary seats.
Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, which salvaged some pride by winning just four seats (all in Punjab) failed to translate its magic from last year’s Delhi assembly polls in the Lok Sabha elections.
The party, which made its debut in the hustings failed to mark its presence elsewhere in the country, even though it finished second in the national capital, as results for the polls were announced on Friday.
In the 16th Lok Sabha elections, the number of registered political parties has grown to a record number of 1,687. The sharp surge can be attributed to emergence and the success of AAP in the Delhi assembly elections.
Interestingly, many of them had made unusual promises like helping lovers to get married and ending ministerial system.
According to latest Election Commission data, there are six national political parties and 54 state parties in addition to 1,627 unrecognised parties. The six national parties include Indian National Congress, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPI(M) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Interestingly, around 60 lakh voters opted for the ‘None of The Above’ (NOTA) option, more than the votes secured by 21 parties, in this Lok Sabha polls where it was introduced for the first time in any parliamentary election.
