Thursday’s polling for the Lok Sabha election saw women voting in lower numbers when compared to men in eight urban constituencies of Chennai, Coimbatore and neighbouring districts, despite women outnumbering men in terms of population in these areas.
The trend was prevalent in constituencies including Chennai North, Chennai South, Chennai Central, Tiruvallur, Sriperumbudur, Kancheepuram, Coimbatore and Tiruppur.
Of the 1.41 crore electors in these seats, around 92 lakh, including 46.7 lakh men and 45.35 lakh women, turned up to vote on April 18.
This should be a matter of concern for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), considering the popular perception in political circles that the ruling party enjoys greater support among women and, by extension, is stronger in constituencies where women outnumber men. However, that notion is being brushed aside by sections of political experts.
Total electorate
In all the 38 constituencies put together, around 2.13 crore women and 2.07 crore men had taken part in the polling process. In total, about 4.20 crore people cast their vote.
If the low turnout of women voters in the eight seats is a cause of worry for the AIADMK, the ruling party can draw solace from the fact that in 26 other constituencies, which have a greater number of women electors than men, women exercised their franchise in greater numbers.
Besides, in Kanniyakumari, women voters surpassed men at the polling booths despite the latter outnumbering the former in terms of population.
Kallakurichi, where L.K. Sudhish of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) was in the fray, saw the highest number of women voters in the State. Around 6.17 lakh women exercised their franchise, with a turnout of about 80%.
The other two seats which saw a huge number of women voting were Chidambaram and Theni, where around 5.96 lakh and 5.94 lakh women voted, respectively.
Both Chidambaram and Theni have high-profile candidates. While Thol. Thirumavalavan of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) is in the fray in Chidambaram, former TNCC president E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam’s son and AIADMK nominee O.P. Ravindranath Kumar and AMMK’s prominent face Thanga Tamilselvan are trying their luck in the Theni constituency.
Lok Sabha vs Assembly
In constituencies where men make up a majority of the voter population — Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Salem — there was no surprise, with men turning up to vote in greater numbers than women.
Contrary to another popular notion that people evince greater interest in Assembly byelections than in Parliamentary polls, the data on turnout revealed that there was no difference between the two in this regard.
In the 18 constituencies which went to the polls along with Lok Sabha constituencies, the turnout figures were identical.
In 12 of the 18 Assembly seats, which have more women electors than men, the participation of women in the polling process was also higher than that of men.
Only two seats, Hosur and Pappireddipatti — both in the western belt of the State — saw men casting their vote in greater numbers.
The outlier
Harur, which comes under the Dharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency, was an outlier, with more women turning up at the booths than men despite the latter being numerically stronger as electors.
The three remaining constituencies of Poonamallee, Perambur and Sholinghur — all “women-majority” seats in the northern region — saw more men than women exercise their voting right.
What went largely unnoticed was that not even one-fifth of the third gender voters had cast their votes. Out of 5,688 persons in 38 Lok Sabha seats, only 1,066, representing about 18.7%, had exercised their franchise.
