Bengal 4th phase poll: Women voters outnumber men

Kolkata: WOMEN voters will become the deciding factor in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district during the State's fourth phase Assembly elections for 44 constituencies on April 10.

Cumulatively the number of female voters in the district's 11 constituencies are more than their male counterparts. In six of them, Sonarpur Dakshin, Sonarpur Uttar, Jadavpur, Tollygunj, Behala Uttar, Behala Dakshin, women have an edge over their male counterparts. The total number of female voters in these 11 constituencies is 15,70,392, while the number of the male voters is 15,66,161. The Jadavpur constituency with the highest gender ratio of 1,068, has 1,54,239 female voters against 1,44,420 males.

This is closely followed by Behala Paschim that has a gender ratio of 1,054 with 1,60,502 female voters against 1,52,237 males.

With a gender ratio of 1,051, the high-profile Tollygunj constituency has 1,37,995 female voters against 1,31,355 male voters. Behala Purba having a gender ratio of 1,036, has 1,56,629 women electors against 1,51,218 men; Sonarpur Dakshin with gender ratio 1,029 has 1,46,170 female voters and 1,42,062 males; and in Sonarpur Uttar, the number of female voters is 1,50,432 against 1,49,430 males with a gender ratio of 1,007.

However, the other five assembly constituencies of Bhangore, Kasba, Maheshtala, Budge Budge and Metiabruz, have more male voters than female voters.

A substantial increase in women voters might play an important role in the ongoing Assembly polls in the State. The percentage of women voters has not only crossed the 49 per cent mark but the gender ratio has advanced from 956 in 2020 to 961 in the final voters' list published by the Election Commission of India. West Bengal has been one of the few major states where women participation in the electoral process has been substantially high. The final electoral roll published by the ECI shows that the percentage of women in the state is 49.01 per cent. This makes West Bengal the fourth major State after Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, where female participation is high.

Kerala with 51.4 per cent women participation is best among the bigger states in the country followed by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh that have 50.5 per cent and 50.4 per cent women electorates, respectively. Meanwhile, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya also have a high female electorate.