Question

in a straight contest ,the loser polled 42% votes and lost by 14400 .find the total no. of votes polled .If the total no.of eligible voters was 1 lakh .find what %of voters did not vote

Answer 1

loser = 42%
winner = 100 - 42 = 58%

58-42 = 16%
16% of total votes = 14400
total votes = 14400/16 * 100 = 90000

total voter = 100000
not voted = 10000
% not voted = 10000/100000 * 100 = 10%

Answer 2

Let the total no. of votes be x.
⇒Loser gets 42% of x votes=42x/100 votes.
⇒Winner gets 100%-42%=58% of x votes=58x/100 votes.
Now , margin by which loser lost=14400.
Therefore, difference between winner's and loser's votes is 14400. 
⇒Given , 58x/100-42x/100=14400
⇒(58x-42x)/100=14400
⇒16x/100=14400
⇒x=14400*100/16 (by cross multiplication)
⇒x=90000.
=============================================(Part 1 solved )
Hence the total no of votes polled is 90000.
No . of eligible voters=100000
⇒No. of voters who didn't vote=100000-90000=10000.
⇒Percentage of voters who didn't vote=10000/100000*100 %
=10% 
================================================(Part 2 solved)
Ans:The number of votes polled is 90000.
10% voters didn't vote.  (I'm thinking why so)