While hearing a plea by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy challenging the validity of a provision in the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre and the Election Commission (EC) if there should be a minimum vote requirement in the case of uncontested elections. The existing provision says that in the event of an uncontested election – that is, if there is only one candidate in the fray – the EC shall declare the only contestant as the winner without voting. “Will it not be a very welcome and progressive step where only one candidate is left in (the fray) and still you say that you will be declared (elected) only when you get at least 10%, 15% (votes),” asked Justice Surya Kant, presiding over a two-judge Bench. Since 1952, when the first elections were held in India, a total of 29 MPs and 298 MLAs, including through bypolls, have been elected unopposed. Lok Sabha Most recently, more than a month-and-a-half before the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s Mukesh Dalal was declared elected uncontested from Surat after the eight remaining nominees withdrew. It is rare, if not uncommon, for a Lok Sabha candidate to be elected unopposed. Most such cases, at five each, were in the 1952, 1957 (when the pool of candidates was much smaller as elections had just begun and fewer parties in the fray), and 1967 elections. Jammu and Kashmir has seen the most MPs elected unopposed, at four. Only eight states have sent more than one legislator to Parliament uncontested, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. Of the 29 MPs elected unopposed so far, the Congress has seen the most at 20. The National Conference (NC) and Samajwadi Party (SP) follow with two each. Just one Independent has won the parliamentary election unopposed. Dalal is the first BJP MP in this list. Only two Lok Sabha seats have seen an MP elected unopposed more than once – Sikkim and Srinagar. Among the notable MPs who were elected unopposed are former Deputy Prime Minister and Maharashtra CM Y B Chavan from Nasik via a bypoll; former J&K CM and NC chief Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar; former Nagaland CM and ex-Governor of four states S C Jamir; Odisha’s first CM Harekrushna Mahatab from Angul; former member of the Constituent Assembly and Congress leader T T Krishnamachari from Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchendur; and former Union Ministers P M Sayeed from Lakshadweep and K L Rao from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. State Assemblies In Assemblies, Nagaland leads the way with the most MLAs elected unopposed at 77, followed by Jammu and Kashmir at 63, and Arunachal Pradesh at 40. All three states have struggled with militancy. In 1962, the year of the India-China War, the Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, erstwhile Mysore, and J&K saw the most state legislators elected unopposed in a single year at 47. After that, the highest tallies for a single year came in 1998 at 45, and in 1967 and 1972 at 33 each. Since 1952, just nine years have seen unopposed wins hit double-digit figures. For over two decades on either side of 1998, uncontested wins in Assembly seats were rare occurrences. Again, the Congress leads with the most MLAs elected unopposed, at 194 of 298, followed by the National Conference (NC) at 34, and the BJP at 15. To date, 29 Independents have been elected unopposed. The last time an Independent won an uncontested election was in 2002, when engineer-turned-activist Sonam Wangchuk in Nubra and former state minister Nawang Rigzin Jora in Leh won unopposed in then undivided J&K. Most recently, in the 2024 Arunachal Pradesh Assembly polls, CM Pema Khandu of the BJP along with nine other party candidates were elected unopposed. A sixth of the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Assembly was elected unopposed, one seat shy of the record set in 2014, when 11 candidates won without an election being required. Khandu and former J&K CM Syed Mir Qasim have been elected unopposed a record three times each. Khandu’s Mukto Assembly seat has seen the most instances of an MLA elected unopposed at five. Before Khandu, his father and former CM Dorjee Khandu won the seat in 1990 and 2009 without a contest.
