Jharkhand Elections Phase 1: Female voter turnout surpasses male participation by 4.8%

NEW DELHI: Female voter turnout exceeded male voting percentage by almost 4.8 percentage points in Phase 1 of Jharkhand elections , with the trend seen in all but 6 of the 43 assembly constituencies that went to polls on Wednesday.

The state witnessed an overall EVM turnout of 66.6 per cent, which is 2.7 percentage points higher than the 63.9 polling recorded in 2019 assembly polls. Female EVM turnout was at a little over 69 per cent, even as male voters lagged behind with just 64.3 per cent participation. Third-gender voters clocked a 31 per cent turnout.

The above turnout figures only pertain to votes polled on EVMs. Postal ballots — given to service voters and absentee voters (senior citizens above 85 years, persons with disabilities and those engaged in essential services or election duty) — are factored in only at the time of counting. A daily account of such postal ballots received are given to all candidates.

Assembly constituency (AC) wise, there are 37 ACs — out of the 43 that voted on Nov 13 — that recorded a higher female turnout as compared to men. Only six ACs — Potka, Jugsalai, Jamshedpur East, Seraikella, Tamar and Khunti — recorded higher male polling percentage, though the gender gap was less than one percentage point in 4 of these 6 ACs. On the other hand, in Barkatha AC and Barhi AC, the gap between female and male turnout was almost 17 percentage points and 15 percentage points respectively.

Baharagora AC witnessed the highest overall turnout at 79.3 per cent, thanks to its women voters whose participation was 81.6 per cent. Kharsawan followed with 79.1 per cent overall turnout and almost 80 per cent polling by its female electorate.

Ranchi witnessed urban apathy and recorded the lowest polling at 52.5 per cent. While 13 of the 43 ACs covered in Phase 1 recorded a turnout of over 70 per cent, polling was in the range of 60-70 per cent for 25 ACs and below 60 per cent for 5 ACs.