Women in Tamil Nadu not only outnumbered men on the voter list, they beat them in the race for getting the indelible mark on April 24. While 73.51 per cent of men (2,02,27,493) exercised their franchise for the Lok Sabha elections, the number of women who cast their votes stood at 73.86 per cent (2,03,27,045).
Of the total number of voters (5,50,42,876), except the Service Voters, 4,05,54,957 cast their votes in this election. With this, the final poll percentage stood at 73.68.
This figure was a tad better than the 2009 elections, which recorded a voter turnout of 72.98 per cent, but the highest ever poll percentage in the State was in 1967 (76.59 per cent) when the DMK dethroned the then mighty Congress.
Sharing the final figures with mediapersons, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar said the Chennai average was 61.93 per cent - Chennai North (63.95), Chennai South (60.37) and Chennai Central (61.49). The biggest surge of women happened at Sriperumbudur constituency with 6,21,104 getting their fingers inked.
In the overall poll percentage, Dharmapuri constituency topped the list with 81.14 per cent followed by Karur (80.47), Perambalur (80.02) and Arani (80).
Of the 39 LS constituencies, South Chennai recorded the lowest percentage of 60.37. As many as 25 constituencies polled more than 70 per cent votes this time: Tiruvallur (73.73), Kancheepuram - SC (75.91) Arakkonam (77.80), Vellore (74.58), Krishnagiri (77.68), Tiruvannamalai (78.80), Villupuram - SC (76.84), Kallakurichi (78.26), Salem (76.73), Namakkal (79.64), Erode (76.06), Tirupur (76.22), Nilgiris - SC (73.43), Pollachi (73.11), Dindigul (77.36), Tiruchy (71.11), Cuddalore (78.69), Chidambaram - SC (79.61), Mayiladuthurai (75.87), Nagapattinam - SC (77.64), Thanjavur (75.49), Sivaganga (72.83), Theni (75.02), Virudhunagar (74.96) and Tenkasi - SC (73.60).
The other constituencies where the poll percentage went above 60 were: Sriperumbudur (66.21), Coimbatore (68.17), Madurai (67.88), Ramanathapuram (68.67), Tuticorin (69.92), Tirunelveli (67.68) and Kanyakumari (67.69). In all, more women than men cast their votes in 23 constituencies — Arakkonam, Tiruvannamalai, Arani, Kallakurichi, Namakkal, Dindigul, Karur, Tiruchy, Perambalur, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Sivaganga, Madurai, Theni, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari.
In Alandur, the turnout stood at 64.47 per cent. Of this, 66.20 per cent were men and 62.73 per cent women.