Women Outnumbered Men in Chhattisgarh, Mizoram Voting; Male Voters Dominated in MP

Often termed the “silent voters", women outnumbered men in exercising their franchise in two of the three states that went to polls elections recently.

Last week, the second phase of polling was completed in Chhattisgarh. With this, voting in all 90 assemblies of the state has been completed. The numbers issued by Chhattisgarh’s Chief Electoral Officers (CEO) on Sunday say that a total of 1.55 crore voters cast their votes in all 90 assemblies. Of these, 78.12 lakh were women, while 77.48 lakh were men. The state has 1.97 crore voters, including 98.5 lakh women and 98.2 lakh men. In the first phase, the turnout was 76.47%, while in the second phase the turnout was 75.88%.

In as many as 50 assemblies – more than half – women outnumbered male in voter turnout, the CEO claimed. These included Bastar, Jagdalpur, Chitrakot, Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta. Of the 20 seats that went for polls in the first phase, women outnumbered men in 16.

Apart from Chhattisgarh phase two, all 230 assemblies in Madhya Pradesh also went for polls on Friday. The state recorded 77.15% voter turnout – 1.52% higher than 2018. In the state, men outnumbered women. The male voter turnout was 78.21% against women’s 76.03%, numbers from state CEO show. Of the 5.52 crore registered voters in the state, 2.85 crore are men and 2.67 crore women.

On November 7, Mizoram assembly elections were conducted. There, too, women voters outnumbered men. The state recorded 80.66% turnout. While women voters’ turnout was 81.25%, men’s was 80.04%, numbers from state CEO show. Mizoram has 8.38 lakh voters, including 4.32 lakh women.

The counting of votes in these states will be done on December 3 along with two more states that are yet to vote. Rajasthan will witness polling on November 25 and Telangana on November 30.

Since the 2018 elections,1.6 crore electors have been added to the voter list in these five states. At least 82.5 lakh of these are women, while only 72.3 lakh are men. In total, 16 crore voters are taking part in the assembly elections in these five states with more than half men. There are 7.8 crore women voters against 8.2 crore men.