Women power in voter queues in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh

Women voters turned out in large numbers in both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections this time, with a nearly 4% jump in women voting in MP, and almost 30% constituencies in Chhattisgarh reporting higher voting by women than men, as per data analysed by ET.

Political parties had left much to be desired while giving tickets to women, with the Congress giving just 12% of its tickets in MP to women, and BJP fielding just 10% women candidates in the state.

But woman voters outnumbered men in as many as 51 assembly constituencies out of the 230 seats in the state, reporting a higher voting percentage than men.

In Chhattisgarh, out of the 90 constituencies, women voting was higher than men in as many as 24 seats. The women voting percentage in MP rose by almost 4% from 70.11% in 2013 to 74.03%, while it rose by only 2.03% for men from 73.95% to 75.98%. A big advertisement campaign aimed at women voters was launched in both states by the Election Commission.

“The sex ratio of Madhya Pradesh has risen from 898 per 1000 men in 2013 to 917 now. This is a major factor besides greater awareness among women and special steps taken by us to improve constructive participation of women in the electoral process,” Sandeep Yadav, additional chief electoral officer of MP, told ET.

He said as many as 3034 all-women managed polling booths were set up in the state, which saw good voting. The entire polling staff, including the police and security personnel, at these booths were female. “We also made two women polling icons in the state who are popular TV serial actresses — Divyanka Tripathi, who belongs to Bhopal, and Subhangi Atre who belongs to Indore,” Yadav explained.

Districts in MP which reported higher voting percentage by women than men are Satna, Rewa, Sidhi, Shahdol, Balaghat and Betul.

The highest voting percentage among women was reported from the Sailana seat in Ratlam, with a record 87.05% polling, followed by Sausar at 86.98%, Malhargarh at 84.52%, Pichhore at 84.34% and Manasa at 84.19%.

Over two dozen seats in MP saw over 80% voting by women. In Chhattisgarh, the seats which had maximum polling by women were Kurad (88.08%), Kharsia (86.88%), Lundra at 86.37% and Dharamjaygarh (85.91%). The overall voting percentage by women in Chhattisgarh was, however, similar to that in 2013