NEW DELHI: Only 3.47 per cent of the winning candidates in the just-concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections got more than 50 per cent of the votes polled. This was disclosed here by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N. Gopalaswami during an informal interaction with mediapersons organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC).

And, Uttar Pradesh was not alone in this.

Jharkhand comes a close second in this regard with only 6.10 per cent of the winning candidates polling more than half the votes in 2005. In the last two years, the only two States where more than 50 per cent of the winning candidates got more than half the votes polled are Kerala and Puducherry. With votes being scattered in multi-cornered contests, Mr. Gopalaswami said it would be very difficult to evolve a two-party system in the country as suggested by President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

"Given the nature of Indian politics, it is too much to expect the country's politics to veer around to a two-party system in the immediate future.''

To a question on whether compulsory voting could be introduced, he said it would be difficult to enforce it.

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