But more female than male voters in 3 seats in the state

Mumbai: The number of women voters has risen more steeply than male voters in the state over the last decade since 2014, the latest data shows. While the number of male voters has risen by 51.4 lakh or 12%, the number of women voters has risen by 62 lakh or 16.3% since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Indeed, there are three Lok Sabha constituencies where the number of women voters outnumber men. This includes Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg and Raigad in the Konkan region and Bhandara-Gondia in the eastern Vidarbha region. In Ratnagiri Sindhudurg, women voters outnumber male voters by 21,478. In Raigad, there are 27,166 more female than male voters. In Bhandara-Gondia, women voters outnumber men by as much as 35,120. In the high-profile constituency of Nagpur in Vidarbha, women voters are almost on par with men. There are only 3,266 more registered male voters than female voters. “Given the lack of job opportunities in the Konkan, male members of the family have traditionally migrated to Mumbai for work and they tend to register their vote in the city. The wives remain behind and retain their vote in their native district,” said a senior official from the state’s chief electoral office. This explains why there are more women voters than men in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg and Raigad. Large numbers of men from the tribal belt Bhandara-Gondia also tend to migrate to the border district of Chhatisgarh. “They tend to go to Raipur in Chattisgarh to find work since it is more industrialised,” Vijay Jawandhia, farmer activist from Vidarbha. Officials say that the rise in the registration of women voters is the result of special drives. In 2019, the gender ratio in the state electoral roll was 911women per 1000 men. It has now risen to 923 after the state’s electoral office focused on increasing the registration of women voters. Women’s right’s activist Kiran Moghe says that the reservation for women in local self-government bodies has also been an important factor in raising participation of women in voting, nationally. “This has raised consciousness. They know the candidates and are familiar with the issues that they are raising,” says Moghe. The rise in the registration of women voters in the state reflects the national trend. According to an SBI report in December 2023, women voters in the country will overtake men by 2029. It’s clear that no political party can afford to ignore this votebank. The Ladli Behna scheme in Madhya Pradesh was considered key to the BJP government’s victory. In Karnataka, the Congress had promised Rs 2,000 to every female head of household while the AAP government in Delhi has provided women above 18 years a stipend of Rs 1,000 per month.