Women with 69.34 per cent polling outdo men voters

Neena Sharma

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 22

Women voters seem to have outnumbered men in exercising their right to franchise in the Assembly elections on February 15.

Women have outnumbered men voters in the overall percentage of polling in all districts of the state.

Due to their strong participation in the elections, the overall turnout of women voters in 69 Assembly segments stands at 69.34 per cent while that of men voters is 62.28 per cent.

This trend of active participation of women continues in the Assembly segments located in the hilly districts of the state as well as in the two plain districts of the state.

The percentage of women voters is more than men voters in Tehri Garhwal, Pauri, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi, Almora, Bageshwar, Nainital, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districts.

“In these Assembly segments, men are working in far-off places and seldom come out to vote because it means loss of a day’s wage. But most of them prefer to remain registered as voters in their home districts so their names have not been deleted from the voters’ list,” said Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi.

In Tehri Garhwal district that comprises six Assembly segments, the women voter turnout was 64.62 per cent while that of men voters was 46.76 per cent. The gap between men and women voters is at 17.86 per cent.

In Pauri district where large-scale migration of male breadwinners and young has taken place in the past 16 years, the overall voting percentage has been 54.95 per cent. The percentage of men voters is 48.52 and that of women voters is 61.63 per cent. The gap between men and women voters is around 13.1 per cent. The district has six Assembly segments.

Significantly, the overall percentage of voters’ turnout in Chaubattakhal has been recorded at 46.8 per cent and in Lansdowne Assembly segment at 47.95 per cent

In Uttarkashi district, the overall voters’ turnout is recorded at 68.29 per cent with women voters’ turnout at 73.21 per cent and men voters’ turnout at 63.69 per cent. The district comprises three Assembly segments.

In Almora district, the voter turnout for women voters’ was 60.69 per cent and for men voters’ 45.20 per cent. The gap between men and women voters is 10.69 per cent.

In the remote Bageshwar district, the women voters’ turnout was 70.18 per cent and for men was 52.53. The gap between men and women voters is 17.65 per cent.

Further in Dehradun district, the percentage of women voters’ turn out is higher than that of men voters. The voter turnout of women voters was 65.93 per cent and men voters was 61.27.

The overall women voters’ turnout is slightly higher than men voters in Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar districts.