TIRUPATI: With female voters outnumbering their male counterparts in the district, political parties have no way other than depending on the support of women to ensure their victory.
Of the total electorate numbering 26,61,634, which will go up further, owing to the enrollment of voters extended till March 23, the number of female voters is 13,48,032 as against 13,13,602 male voters.
Interestingly, female voters outnumber male voters in as many as 12 constituencies.
In other words, except in Tirupati and Madanapalli, women voters are more in number than male voters in all the other segments.
According to officials sources, the number of women voters as against men (given in brackets), is as follows: Thamballapalle - Female 87,895 (85,204), Piler - 96,598 (92,270), Punganur - 98,563 (94,345), Chandragiri - 1,09,458 (1,04,984), Srikalahasthi - 1,07,007 (1,02,053), Satyavedu - 90,443 (85,439), Nagari - 84,806 (80,516), GD Nellore - 81,793 (79,444), Chittoor - 87,749 (86,676), Puthalapattu - 90,195 (87,677), Palamaner - 1,02,802 (1,00,971), and Kuppam - 87,692 (86,549).
However, despite women voters’ domination, the main political parties have not given them due representation in the allotment of seats for contesting the elections, according to sources.
So far, the parties have confirmed women candidates only for the Chandragiri constituency where the fight will be among women.
The TDP has already announced the name of Telugu Mahila State president, Roja, as the candidate while the Congress has approved the candidature of Minister Galla Arunakumari, the sitting MLA, while the BJP is fielding a psychologist, Gali Pushpalatha, for the seat.
Unlike in other constituencies, the campaign has already reached a feverish pitch with candidates of the Congress, the TDP, the BJP and the PRP’s probable candidate Sai Ramani Reddy launching their campaign in top gear.