otal= 0 for i in [1,2,3,4,5] : total=total+1 print(total)

Question

It give output 5.is it counting total elements of list

Answer 1

Yes, total = total + 1
0=0+1
2=1+1
3=2+1
4=3+1
5=4+1

if you want to sum the elements, try:
total=total+i

Answer 2

Yes, since you increase the value of total by 1 and not by the value. To get the sum you'll need to sum up:
list = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ];
... loop ...
total += list[index]