More women voters than men in half of Karnataka Assembly seats

According to the electoral rolls data compiled for the May 10 Assembly elections, the number of men and women voters stands at 2.67 crore and 2.64 crore, respectively.

Mangalore City South constituency has the highest gender ratio of electors (1,091 women per 1,000 men), while Mahadevapura seat the lowest (858 women per 1,000 men).

In all, 140 seats have a higher gender ratio of electors than the state’s overall average of 989.

Karnataka Special Officer (Elections) Surya Sen A V told The Indian Express that the gender ratio of electors has to be seen in the context of the gender ratio in population, migration patterns and the authorities’ drive to “clean the rolls”.

He said in the coastal areas, which includes the Mangalore City South seat, there is migration of men abroad for work so the gender ratio in population itself would be higher.

Also, the “de-duplication” drive undertaken by the authorities to delete duplicate entries on the electoral rolls has affected men as they tend to move around for work more and have voter IDs from more than one address, the officer said.

The rise in the elector gender ratio is significant in view of the growing participation of women voters in the past two Assembly elections in Karnataka, narrowing the gap in turnout as compared to men.

In the 2013 elections, 70.47% women voters exercised their franchise, which increased to 71.53% in 2018. Compared to this, the turnout of men increased marginally – from 72.40% in 2013 to 72.68% in 2018.

In the 2008 Assembly elections, male and female turnout stood at 66.2% and 63.1%, respectively.

The 112 seats where women voters outnumber men this time are largely in rural areas spread across 28 of the 34 election districts of the state.

These districts are Bagalkot, Bangalore Rural, Belgaum, Bellary, Bijapur, Chamarajnagar, Chikkaballapur, Chikkmagalur, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Davangere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Hassan, Kodagu, Kolar, Koppal, Mandya, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagaram, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Vijayanagara and Yadgir.

The only election districts which do not have any such seat are BBMP (Central), BBMP (North), BBMP (South), Bangalore Urban, Bidar and Haveri.

While 112 seats have a gender ratio of more than 1,000, 108 seats have a gender ratio between 900 and 1,000. In four constituencies it is below 900: Bangalore South (897), Dasarahalli (877), Bommanahalli (867) and Mahadevapura (858).

In 2018, the gender ratio of electors stood at 973, with the total number of male and female electors at 2.57 crore and 2.50 crore, respectively. There were 67 Assembly seats where the gender ratio of electors exceeded 1,000. These seats were spread across 24 districts: Bagalkot, Belgaum, Bellary, Chamarajnagar, Chikkaballapur, Chikkmagalur, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Davangere, Dharwad, Gulbarga, Hassan, Kodagu, Koppal, Mandya, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagaram, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Vijayanagara and Yadgir.

Of these 67 seats, the BJP won the most (36) in the 2018 Assembly elections, while Congress bagged 21, JD(S) 9 and BSP 1.

In the latest data, the gender ratio of electors is the highest (1,225) for the over 80 age group, while the lowest (816) is in the 18-19 age-group. In the other age groups, the gender ratio stood at 943 for 20-29 year age group, 1,014 for 30-39 year age group, 952 for 40-49 year age group, 1,013 for 50-59 year age group, 1,021 for 60-69 year age group and 1,059 for 70-79 year age group.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the turnout of women voters across the country exceeded men’s turnout by 0.17%, gradually increasing over the years from -16.71% in 1962, the then Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra had said on November 26, 2021.