Two candidates X and Y contested an election. 80% of voters cast their vote and there were no invalid votes. There was no NOTA (None of the above) option. X got 56% of the votes cast and won by 1440 votes. What is the total number of voters in the voters list?

Let total votes cast be V. Since only two candidates contested and there were no invalid votes, Y got 44% of votes cast. So victory margin = 56% - 44% = 12% of V.
Given 12% of V = 1440, so V = 1440 / 0.12 = 12000 votes cast.
But this is 80% of total voters. Hence total voters = 12000 / 0.8 = 15000.

Option check:

• (a) 15000: Correct; total voters list = 15000.
• (b) 12000: Incorrect; this is votes cast, not total voters.
• (c) 9600: Incorrect; does not satisfy the given margin and turnout.
• (d) 5000: Incorrect; far below the required total.