Taking the Lead: Phase 4 of 2024 Polls Saw Improved Turnout of Female Voters in 53 Seats from 2019

The fourth phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, held on May 13, saw an improvement in the turnout of women voters in 53 of 96 seats, data analysed by News18 shows. The numbers from the Election Commission of India also show that in at least 26 parliamentary constituencies (PCs), the female turnout was higher than that of males.

Srinagar tops the chart in a number of categories — highest increase in average turnout from 2019, (24 percentage points), highest increase in female turnout from 2019 (20.5 percentage points) and the seat with the highest gender gap in turnout (10.52 percentage points).

Female turnout in Srinagar was 33.21 per cent this time, up from 12.67 per cent in 2019. The male turnout this time on the seat was 43.73 per cent while the average turnout stood at 38.49 per cent, almost 2.5 times of 14.43 per cent from 2019.

On Thursday, News18 had reported that of the 96 seats that went for polling on May 13 under the fourth phase, 47 reported higher voter turnouts than 2019. The list included 11 seats in Andhra Pradesh and 16 from Telangana — the two states that went for polls in a single phase on May 13.

In terms of female voter turnout, Ongole in Andhra Pradesh topped the chart with over 86 per cent female participation. Three more seats from the state — Chittoor, Narsaraopet and Bapatla — followed with over 85 per cent female turnout.

Three seats from Bihar topped the chart from the phase for the highest gap in female-male turnout — at least 10 percentage points. Samastipur saw 55.12 per cent male turnout against female’s 65.65 per cent. In Darbhanga, the female turnout was 62.87 per cent against 52.41 per cent male turnout. Similarly, in Ujiarpur, the female turnout was 65.01 per cent, more than 54.72 per cent of the male participation.

Srinagar, MP’s Dewas and Maharashtra’s Shirdi were on the other end of the spectrum with female turnout about 10 percentage points lower than male.

Polling complete on 378 PCs, women turnout higher in 118 seats

Of the 378 seats that went for polls in the first four phases of Lok Sabha elections, only 118 constituencies saw higher female voter turnout than male. In the list of top 15 seats where female turnout was at least 10 percentage point or higher, 10 were from Bihar.

The average female turnout in the first four phases stood at 67.14 per cent against male turnout of 68.35 per cent. In 2019, the average male turnout on these seats was 69.74 per cent while female was 69.07 per cent.

In 2019, the average voter turnout on these seats was 69.78 per cent. As per the ECI, Lok Sabha Elections 2024 have seen the voter turnout of about 66.95 per cent so far, with 45 crore people exercising their right during the first four phases. Among the four phases conducted so far, the fourth phase saw the highest turnout of 69.16 per cent.

In the first phase, the average turnout was 66.14 per cent that improved to 66.71 per cent in the second. The third phase, held on May 7, saw a drop in voter turnout at 65.68 per cent.

Among all the four phases, Srinagar reported lowest turnout, in terms of gender as well as average turnout. Srinagar was at the bottom in 2019 too.

On the other hand, Assam’s Dhubri topped the chart in all the three categories — male, female and average turnout. In 2019 also, the seat reported more than 90 per cent turnout in all the three categories. This time, the turnout in Dhubri was higher than 2019.

Three phases of polling are left before counting of votes on June 4.

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