Women out-vote men in Dharavi, Chandivali

Of the total 98.98 lakh voters in Mumbai, 54.71 lakh are males and 44.26 lakh females. Overall, 52.60 per cent of the male voters cast their votes, as against 50.86 per cent of the female voters.

However, Dharavi and Chandivali Assembly constituencies stand out as exception.

In Dharavi, of the 2.33 lakh voters, 1.35 lakh are male and 98,000 female. While 50.31 per cent of the female voters voted here, male voters recorded 49.30 per cent turnout.

Similarly, in Chandivali, city’s biggest Assembly constituency in terms of the electorate that comprises 4.05 lakh voters. Of the 1.65 lakh female voters here, 42.7 per cent cast their votes, against 42.6 per cent of the 2.40 lakh male voters.

“Women are the most susceptible amongst the underprivileged and they have come out in large numbers in these areas to make their voices heard,” says Noorjehan Safia Niaz of the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan.

The increased involvement of female voters was particularly evident in the poorest constituencies like Mankhurd, which has a total of three lakh voters. Here, 40.8 per cent  of the 1.22 lakh female voters votes, against 41 per cent turnout among male voters.

The highest number of female voters was in Borivali, where 83,857 of them (55.42 per cent) voted.

zeeshan.shaikh@expressindia.com