The Indian general election of 2014 was held to constitute the 16th Lok Sabha, electing members of parliament for all 543 parliamentary constituencies of India. Running in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014, it was the longest election in the country's history.[3][4]According to the Election Commission of India, 814.5 million people were eligible to vote, with an increase of 100 million voters since the last general election in 2009,[5] making it the largest-ever election in the world.[6] Around 23.1 million or 2.7% of the total eligible voters were aged 18–19 years.[7] A total of 8,251 candidates contested for the 543 Lok Sabha seats.[8] The average election turnout over all nine phases was around 66.38%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections.[8]
The results were declared on 16 May, fifteen days before the 15th Lok Sabha completed its constitutional mandate on 31 May 2014.[9] The counting exercise was held at 989 counting centres.[8] The National Democratic Alliance won a sweeping victory, taking 336 seats. The BJP itself won 31.0% of all votes and 282 (51.9%) of all seats, while NDA's combined vote share was 38.5% .[10] It is the first time since the 1984 Indian general elections that a party has won enough seats to govern without the support of other parties.[11] The United Progressive Alliance, led by the Indian National Congress, won 58 seats,[2] 44 (8.1%) of which were won by the Congress, that won 19.3% of all votes.[1][12] It was the Congress party's worst defeat in a general election.[13][14] BJP and its allies won the right to form the largest m[15]
