Kolkata: Bengal again recorded a high turnout of women voters in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Monday, keeping with the trend in the past three rounds.
Women voters outnumbered their male counterparts in the Lok Sabha seats of Behrampore, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Burdwan East and Birbhum. The average turnout of women voters in those five Lok Sabha constituencies on Monday was recorded as 81.4%, over 2% higher than that of men (79%).The total turnout at all the eight seats, which went to polls on Monday, was 80.2%.
According to EC, out of 71.4 lakh women voters in the fourth phase, 58.2 lakh cast their votes. In contrast, 58.3 lakh out of 73.8 lakh male voters cast their votes on Monday. Psychologist Amit Chakraborty said the trend surely showed women’s empowerment in Bengal, though the number of females in the state was still less than that of males. “More women reaching the booths means they want to exercise their rights. They are now much more conscious. They are no longer willing to be dictated by males about whom to vote. They are the decision-makers. Again, many migrant workers failed to return to vote, so the EC must consider allowing them to vote from their workplaces,” he said.
Additional chief electoral officer Arindam Neogi said Bengal had 3.8 crore male and 3.7 crore female voters. The data released in Jan 2024 by the EC, showed that for every 1,000 male voters in Bengal, there were 968 female voters.
In the third phase of the election on May 7, nearly 11% more women voted then men in Malda (North), Malda (South), Murshidabad and Jangipur. The highest gender gap in voting was witnessed in Jangipur, where 13.8% more women voted then men, and the lowest was witnessed in Murshidabad, where 9% more women voted than men. This is also a first, in which gender gap had exceeded double digits in several Lok Sabha constituencies, said an official.
In the first two phases of polls in Bengal, more women than men voted in four of the six Lok Sabha seats, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Balurghat and Raiganaj. In the Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha constituency, the women voters’ turnout (83.4%) was almost close to that of male voters (83.9%).