Dhubri sees over 88% turnout, Srinagar a shade less than 26%

NEW DELHI: Dhubri constituency in Assam, from where sitting MP Badruddin Ajmal has been re-elected, recorded the highest turnout at 88.22%, while Srinagar in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir saw the lowest polling at 25.86%.
As per the final constituency-wise turnouts released by the Election Commission, as many as 69 constituencies saw turnout in excess of 80% while 165 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats saw a higher percentage of women electors exercising their franchise.

Among the 69 constituencies with 80%-plus turnout, 33 are in West Bengal alone. Others in this category include 14 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, 6 in Assam, 4 in Tamil Nadu, 2 each in Kerala and Tripura and one each in Odisha and Manipur and the seats of Puducherry, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim.

Urban voter turnout, though better than in 2009, remained lower than state-wise poll percentages. So while the average polling in Maharashtra was 60.89%, the constituencies in Mumbai polled between 48.61% (Mumbai North Central) and 53.14% (Mumbai South Central).

In Karnataka, which saw 67.17% turnout, Bangalore North recorded 56.5%, Bangalore Central 55.63% and Bangalore South 55.7%. Delhi not only saw better state-wise turnout at 65.07%, but also constituencies like Chandni Chowk polled a higher 67.84% votes. Hyderabad and Secunderabad saw 53.27% and 53.01% turnout respectively, as against 74.47% polling across Andhra Pradesh. The poll percentage in Patna Sahib was just 45.33%, far lower than the overall 56.28% turnout in Bihar.

Interestingly, many constituencies in Gujarat bettered the state average. Vadodara, from where Narendra Modi was in the fray, clocked 70.90% turnout, compared to 63.6% overall polling in Gujarat.

Women outshone men in terms of electoral participation in as many as 165 constituencies across 25 states and Union Territories. The highest female voter turnout was recorded in Tamluk constituency in West Bengal, at 89.27%, which is better than the highest male voter turnout witnessed in Dhubri at 88.86%.

As many as 26 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh saw higher turnouts among female voters than among male, and the trend was no different across 25 constituencies in Bihar, 19 in Tamil Nadu, 14 in Odisha and 9 in Kerala. In contrast, none of the constituencies in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and NCT of Delhi saw a higher turnout among female electors as compared to participation of men as a percentage of total male electors.

Interestingly, the gender gap, or the difference between female turnout and male turnout, was the widest in Madhya Pradesh, with 66.12% male polling percentage against 56.58% female voter turnout. In Sivaganga constituency in

Tamil Nadu, the 77.98% female voter turnout far surpassed the 67.43% male voter turnout.

In Uttar Pradesh, the constituency-wise voter turnout ranged from the just 49.88% in Bansgaon to a high of 74.23% and 73.07% in communally-sensitive Saharanpur and Kairana respectively.