Percentage question(voters problem)

[hemant_rajput]

Q47 . In an assembly election at X, the total turnout was 80% out of which 16% of the total voters on the voting list were declared invalid. Find which of the following can be the percentage votes got by the winner of election if the candidate who came second got 20% of the total voters on the voting list. (There were only 3 contestants, only one winner and the total number of voters on the voters' list was 20000).
a. 44.8%
b. 46.6%
c. 48%
d. None of these

[spoiler]oa:a[/spoiler]

[adthedaddy]

Of the total voters, 80% turned out for voting;
Of the total voters, 16% voters were declared invalid.
Remaining voters = 80-16 = 64%
20% votes were received by the 2nd person.
Thus, the winning voter gets votes between 20.01 - 44%

Overhere, as there is an option of "None of these" this is a bit ambiguous as an option of 44.8 is given as opt.(a)
We get an answer near to (a) but not exactly. Hence ans can be (a) or (d).

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

Phewww, that's a tough question to interpret! The first sentence is already quite confusing and ambiguous.

Q47 . In an assembly election at X, the total turnout was 80% out of which 16% of the total voters on the voting list were declared invalid.

The total turnout was 80%....: Presumably, this mean that 80% of the 20,000 people on the voters' list showed up. So, 16,000 people turned up to vote.

....out of which 16% of the total voters on the voting list were declared invalid.
"Out of which" suggests that 16% of the 16,000 people who turned up to vote were declared invalid.
"of the total voters on the voting list" suggests that 16% of the 20,000 people on the voters' list were declared invalid.

Next there's "the candidate who came second got 20% of the total voters on the voting list"
Including the invalid votes?

Given this ambiguity (and only 4 answer choices), this could never be an official GMAT question.

Cheers,
Brent

[ritind]

Here's my approach:

Total no. of voters on voting list - 20000 (Lets call it vov)

turnout - 80% of vov = 16000

invalid - 16% of vov = 3200

Candidate who came second got - 20% of vov = 4000

no of votes left = 16000 - 3200 - 4000 = 8800

Lets say that candidate who came first got all the remaining votes = 8800

% of votes won by winning candidate = 8800/20000 * 100 = 44%

Therefore the answer should be D