Free pass to the House: How often MPs, MLAs have been elected unopposed

As 10 MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh, or one-sixth of the Assembly, get elected unopposed, crunching the numbers on uncontested poll wins since 1952

10 BJP candidates for the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly have already won their seats, including Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who also won unopposed in 2014 and 2011 in a bypoll. (PTI Photo)

Just two weeks after the Election Commission (EC) announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha and four state Assembly polls, 10 BJP candidates for the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly have already won their seats, including Chief Minister Pema Khandu who also won unopposed in 2014 and 2011, the latter in a bypoll. A sixth of the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Assembly has been elected unopposed, one seat shy of the record set in 2014, when 11 candidates won without an election being required.

It is more common for MLAs to win unopposed than Lok Sabha MPs. Since the first elections in 1952, 298 MLAs and 28 MPs won their seats in the absence of any opponent.

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.

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In 1962, the Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, 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.

State-wise MLAs elected unopposed.

The Congress has, by far, had the most MLAs elected unopposed at 194, followed by the National Conference (NC) at 34, and the BJP at 15. To date, 29 Independents have also been elected unopposed.

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.

Lok Sabha

Since 1952, J&K 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.

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State-wise MPs elected unopposed.

The most MPs elected unopposed in a single election came in 1952, 1957, and 1967 at five each. The most recent unopposed election was in a 2012 bypoll, when Dimple Yadav, the wife of Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh, won Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. Before that, the last time an MP won uncontested was in 1995.

The Congress has seen the most MPs get elected unopposed at 20. The NC and SP follow with two each. Just one Independent has won the parliamentary election unopposed. There is no BJP candidate on 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; 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 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.