Delhi Polls: Women thronged polling booths, voted more than men in nine seats

NEW DELHI: The February 10 verdict will strongly reflect the aspirations of women who came out to vote not only in large numbers, registering an impressive overall poll percentage of 66.5 per cent, but also left the men behind in nine assembly constituencies. In the rest of the constituencies too, the gender gap in terms of poll percentage was a neck-and-neck competition. This time a total of 11,06,615 more people voted than last time, including 6,35,628 additional men and 4,70,964 women.

The total turnout for Delhi stands at a record 67.13 per cent with 89,34,321 voters casting their ballot. Men accounted for 49,98,086 voters (67.64 per cent) and women made up 39,36,069 (66.5 per cent). The 2013 total turnout was 78,27,706 (65.6 per cent) with male voters making up 43,62,458 (65.98 per cent) and women 34,65,105 (65.13 per cent).
Data also shows that women registered a 70 per cent plus voting turnout on seven seats this time compared to three in 2013. Trilokpuri, a reserved constituency, saw 70.93 per cent women come out to vote. The men here polled a little over 72 per cent votes. This constituency, comprising unauthorized colonies and lowincome settlements, wit nessed riots in the recent past. Similarly, women in Seemapuri registered a turnout of 72.29 per cent. In Gokalpur, which recorded the highest overall turnout of 73.46 per cent, women can be credited for performing phenomenally by registering a turnout of 72.53 per cent. The turnout for men here was 74.20 per cent.

There are around nine constituencies where women inched ahead of men in terms of voter turnout, including Burari, Timarpur, Badli, Bawana, Kirari, Sangam Vihar, Tuglakabad, Najafgarh and Delhi Cantonment. Interestingly, all these areas are dominated by significant pockets of low-income settlements.

On the whole, 16 seats recorded a turnout of over 70 per cent.

There are about 15 constituencies falling within the bracket of 60-65 per cent voter turnout. The remaining 39 seats fall in the 65-70 per cent bracket.

This clearly reflects an evenly high turnout and a shift in traditional vote shares of the three parties — BJP, AAP and Congress.

A poll percentage of 65.1 per cent was recorded in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The vote then was for change and spelt the end of Congress rule in the city delivering a hung assembly with AAP emerging as the formidable factor.