HYDERABAD: While polling percentage recorded in greater Hyderabad was disappointing, there, indeed, was a ray of hope. The election commission data showed a substantial increase in the number of women who cast their votes. In eight constituencies under the greater Hyderabad limits, more women turned up to vote compared to men!
This is a remarkable progress compared to 2014, when in all of the 24 districts of Hyderabad male voters outnumbered women. On the whole, 1.02 crore women voted across the State and are likely to play a major role in the mandate, about 4,700 votes more than men. This, despite the fact that 2.5 lakh more men than women were enrolled in the State to vote.
The constituencies with better women voter representation include, Kukatpally, Nampally, Serilingampally, Uppal, Pattancheru, Medchal, Quthbullapur, Sanath Nagar and LB Nagar. Amongst these, the notable difference was seen in Serilingampally and Medchal, where 49.40% and 61.13% women turned up against 47.76% and 59.80% respectively in 2014. In most of these constituencies, the number of male voters were higher. However they did not turn up to vote. In Hyderabad district alone, the difference between male and female voters was of 2 lakhs. A more holistic glance on all the 31 districts show that 14 districts recorded higher voter turnout among women voters. Experts attribute this increase to better political awareness among the women.
“It is a very positive trend for the democracy and shows that women want to exercise their own political choice. It was only the natural progression because now we see higher participation of women in public life so this kind of political representation is the most natural,” noted Professor Manjari Katju, Political Science Professor, UoH.
But what could be the political implications of more women voters? “The social construct is such now that women can’t be swayed using biryanis and liquor. So the choices they make maybe more ethical,” noted Professor Subbarangaiah K of Let’s Vote NGO. Previously, National Election Studies by organisation called CSDC has conducted studies that showed an increase in women voters turnout, tends to favour the Congress party and go against BJP in Lok Sabha Elections.
Districts with more women voter turnout
Mancherial, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Jagtial , Karimnagar, Rajanna Sircilla , Siddipet, Rangareddy , Medchal Malkajgiri Mahbubnagar , Wanarpathy, Jayashankar Bhupalpally , Khammam.