83.84% increase.. Ramtek records highest rise in women voters in Vid from 2004
| Date :08-Apr-2024 |
By Vikas Vaidya
It seems women’s power will be decisive in the Lok Sabha elections. This year, women voters will play an important role in deciding the fate of the candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections which will be held in five phases in Maharashtra. The number of women voters has increased in 2024 as compared to 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019. Ramtek registered 84.83% increase in women voters from 2004 to 2024, which is highest among all Vidarbha Lok Sabha constituencies. In Ramtek, there were 5,42,529 women voters registered in 2004, with 6,06,230 men. This year, the number of women voters registration has gone up to 10,02,780 with men voters reaching 10,43,601. The increase in women voters is more than that of the rise in men voters in last 20 years.
In Nagpur, the increase in women voters in last 20 years is 42.17%, much less than the rise in Ramtek constituency.
There were 7,79,123 women voters in Nagpur in 2004. It rose to 11,07,724 women voters in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Men voters in Nagpur were 8,51,771, which have been gone up to 11,11,298 this year. In 2004, there was no separate registration of male and female voters. Therefore, a total of 3,42, 63,317 voters were registered that year. But the administration in State prepared a statistics of women voters registration in 2004 too. In the voter registration conducted for both the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the number of women voters was less than that of men.
However, the number of women voters has increased in the voter registration conducted for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. According to the 2011 census, there were 925 women for every 1000 men. In 2014, the proportion of women in the electoral roll was 889 women for every 1000 men. In 2019, there were 911 women for every 1000 men. In 2024 there is a significant improvement to 923 women for every 1000 men.
Male voters outnumber female
Though there is an exponential increase in women voters’ registration, of those very less number turn up to polling station to cast the votes as compared to men voters. If one has a look at the last Lok Sabha elections, one would find that in Ramtek, 41% women did not turn up as compared to 34.96% men who failed to cast their voting right. In Nagpur also, it is found that less number of women exercised their franchise than that of men voters casting votes. Government is conducting Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign. For this, the cooperation of Anganwadi workers, Asha workers, nurses, women self-help groups, non-governmental organisations is being sought to increase the registration of women voters.
Moreover, women are being encouraged for voter registration through leading women in various fields including industry, education, social, literature, art and culture. In 2019, the total number of voters including service voters has been reported to be 8,86,76,946. There are 4, 64 25, 348 men voters. While there were 4,22,79,192 women voters. In 2024 as on April 5, total voters are reported to be 9,26,37,230. In this, there are 4,86,04,798 men voters and 4,44,16, 814 women voters.