As many as 13 electoral divisions out of the 33 in the State have more women voters than men. There has been a constant improvement in the gender ratio that has gone up from 958 (per 1,000 male) in the 2013 Assembly elections to 976 this year. It was 960 in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 963 in 2015 final rolls, and 972 in the 2018 Assembly elections.
As per the revised electoral rolls in January 2019, Karnataka has 5.03 crore voters, including 2.48 crore women and 4,718 in the “others” category.
Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar told The Hindu that female registered voters were remarkably higher than male voters in the divisions of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Raichur, and Ballari. However, in the divisions of Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru North, Belagavi, and Bengaluru Central the number of male voters is considerably higher than that of female voters. In terms of percentage of women voters, Udupi has the highest and Bengaluru Urban has the lowest.
This time, the Election Commission will set up 600 all-woman polling booths in the State.
Significantly, the number of women voters enrolled in the four electoral divisions of Bengaluru Urban, South, North, and Central has gone down by over one lakh compared to that during the 2018 Assembly elections. This could be because of an aggressive voter list cleansing exercise taken up by the Election Commission, said K.S. Vimala of Janawadi Mahila Sangathane.
Pointing out that more women in the voters’ list is a good sign in a democratic set up, Ms. Vimala said this only reiterates women voters were a formidable force in the electoral process. “However, participation of women in the polling exercise and voting responsibly and sensibly without being influenced by family members, employers or political leaders is vital,” she said.
Attributing the higher women voter registration in rural areas to rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGA), she said many of those who would have migrated in search of employment to neighbouring States may have returned to their home State.
“In cities too, most people want to get enrolled now as they feel having an EPIC will help them get identity and other benefits,” she added.
