HYDERABAD: The low turnout in GHMC elections (46.55%) despite the high decibel campaign has led to much consternation among political parties. However, if one analyses the numbers, one of the major reasons is that fewer women turned up to vote on December 1.
As compared to the male voting percentage, 48.09% of, the turnout of women was just 45%. In at least seven out of 150 wards, the percentage of woman voters did not even touch 35%.
These include -- Mehdipatnam with just 32.66%, Yousufguda (33.40%), Saidabad (33.61%), Santosh Nagar (33.72%), Miyapur (34.65%), Hydernagar (35.38%), Moosarambagh (35.53%) and Dabeerpura with 35.55% turnout.
On the contrary, Kanchanbagh in Chandrayangutta circle saw nearly 90% woman voter turnout while that of men was only 50%. Only 10,867 men voted as against 19,555 women.
If one were to analyse circle-wise, RC Puram and Patancheru had a 63.78% female voter turnout. The Gajularamaram circle had 53.32% and Chandrayangutta circle 53.65% respectively. In the 2020 GHMC elections, there were 35,50,178 woman voters as against 38,61,748 male voters.
“Although, the government declared 50% reservation for women, it was seen by female voters as a purely political move. The word “mahila” does not appear in their manifesto.
The BJP too made only token promises. No party promised good bus stops, streetlights, strengthening of urban SHGs. Therefore, women did not turn up in large numbers to vote,” analyses Spurthi, an activist.
No reason to vote
While male voters accounted for 48.09%, the women’s share was only 45%
Female voters appear to have found little in manifestos of various parties which could draw them to the poll booths
Mehdipatnam records lowest turnout among women: 32.66%
Kanchanbagh records highest turnout: 90%