Female voters in Pir Panchal, Doda, Udhampur, Kathua, Samba distts move ahead of males

Jammu, Oct 5: Female voters in Pir Panchal, Udhampur, Kathua, Samba and Doda districts of Jammu region outperformed their male counterparts, by recording better turnout in just concluded three-phased J&K Assembly elections.

On the whole, there were 41 assembly segments, where women voter turnout surpassed that of men, across J&K.

Out of 41, only seven assembly segments were in Kashmir region. Interestingly, here again, the Gurez assembly segment, which registered the highest voter turnout in the Kashmir region, clinched the top spot (in the region).

Intriguingly, out of 873 candidates in fray during these assembly elections, only 43 were women. Even a majority among them constituted independent candidates.

However, according to the ECI, women candidates had made a significant leap, increasing from 28 in 2014 to 43 in 2024.

In tandem with women candidates, an impressive leap was registered by women voters as well across J&K and Chhamb constituency in Jammu division topped the chart.

Among seven assembly segments in Kashmir region, Gurez (ST) registered 78.04 percent turnout, with women 79.85 percent surpassing men (76.41 percent).

In Lolab, overall turnout was 64.73 percent where women with 65.37 percent outperformed men, who recorded 64.09 percent turnout. Handwara saw 72.78 percent turnout with women taking slender lead with 72.89 percent over men who recorded 72.66 percent turnout.

Karnah recorded 69.88 percent voter turnout, males with 69 percent turnout lagging behind females who registered 70.54 percent females.

Other assembly segments in Kashmir region included Khansahib (female 72.21 percent and male 71.96 percent); Kokernag (female 62.42 percent and male 62.08 percent) and Uri, where total turnout was 69.86 percent wherein women voters (69.91 percent) slightly surged ahead of men (69.81 percent).

In Jammu division’s Udhampur district, all four assembly segments saw women voters outperforming men.

Udhampur West recorded 77.07 percent turnout, women (78.90 percent) taking lead over men (75.35 percent); Udhampur East saw 77.68 percent turnout with women (82.30 percent) surpassing men (73.45 percent); Chenani recorded 76.90 percent turnout with women turnout of 80.99 percent and men 73.27 percent and in Ramnagar (SC), turnout was 72.34 percent with women recording 78.89 percent and men 66.50 percent.

Kathua district’s all six segments also demonstrated a similar trend with women outperforming men voters.

Bani saw voter turnout of 72.73 percent (males 67.15 percent, females 79.01 percent and third gender 100 percent); in Billawar it was 72.01 percent (male 64.94 percent and females 79.77 percent; Basohli saw 69.37 percent (male 60.81 percent, females 78.81 percent); in Jasrota, voter turnout was 74.36 percent (male 70.79 percent and female 78.27 percent); Kathua (SC), it was 75.53 percent (males 74.59 percent and females 76.57 percent) and Hiranagar, it was 74.60 percent (male 71.31 percent and females 78.16 percent).

In Samba district again, women voters took the lead over men in all three assembly segments.

Ramgarh (SC) recorded 76.73 percent turnout (male 74.14 percent and female 79.43 percent); in Samba segment, it was 74.99 percent (male 72.43 percent and females 77.67 percent) and in Vijaypur, voter turnout was 77.94 percent (male 77.94 percent and females 77.95 percent).

In Rajouri district, Kalakote assembly segment recorded 74.21 percent women turnout and 63.95 percent male turnout; in Nowshera, it was 77.80 percent women turnout and 68.61 percent male turnout; Rajouri (74.85 percent females and 66.59 percent males); Budhal (75 percent females and 65.62 percent males) and Thannamandi (75.58 percent females and 70.36 percent males).

In its twin district of Poonch, Surankote assembly segment saw 78.29 percent female voter turnout against 71.78 percent male voter turnout; in Poonch Haveli, it was 76.68 percent females and 72.54 percent males and in Mendhar, it was 78.16 percent female and 69.18 percent male turnout.

In Doda district, Bhaderwah assembly segment recorded 68.7 percent women voter turnout against 66.23 percent that of men; in Doda segment, it was 75.82 percent female and 69.34 percent male turnout and in Doda West, it was 78.24 percent female and 73.91 percent male turnout.

In Reasi district, Gulabgarh assembly segment registered 74.21 percent female turnout and 72.95 percent male turnout while in Reasi segment, it was 74.20 percent female and 70.14 male turnout.

In Kishtwar district, Inderwal saw 82.90 female voter turnout against 81.47 percent that of males and in Kishtwar segment, it was 79.93 percent female turnout and 76.62 percent male turnout.

However, out of eleven assembly segments in Jammu district, only Bishnah, Suchetgarh, Nagrota, Akhnoor and Chhamb constituencies saw women voters outperforming men. Out of five, three assembly segments were reserved constituencies.

Chhamb assembly segment, which saw a total turnout of 80.34 percent, registered 83.53 percent female voter turnout and 77.29 percent male voter turnout.

Akhnoor (SC) assembly segment, total voter turnout was 79.73 percent (male 78.63 percent and female 80.89 percent and Nagrota constituency, with 77.66 percent total voter turnout, saw 78.27 percent female turnout against 77.09 percent male turnout.

In Bishnah (SC), where total voter turnout was 77.96 percent, women with 78.91 percent turnout surpassed men, who registered 77.11 percent turnout and Suchetgarh (SC) with total voter turnout of 73.93 percent saw women voter turnout of 76.74 percent against that of 71.41 percent in case of men.

Another interesting aspect was that out of nine reserved seats for Scheduled Tribes (STs), six seats saw better female voter turnout across J&K.

Notably, male voters managed a slender lead over their female counterparts in overall turnout in assembly elections. However, in the third and final phase of elections, covering 40 assembly segments of seven districts, women voters outperformed men, by registering 70.02 percent turnout.

Polling percentage in case of male voters was 69.37 percent in the final phase, which saw overall turnout of 69.69 percent.

One wonders if the women outperforming men in voting percentage corresponds to schemes announced by various political parties promising financial assistance to women.

However, the Election Commission of India maintains that intensive efforts to increase the size of the electorate have yielded positive results.

“Overall, there has been a significant increase of over 23 percent in the size of the electorate from 2014. Encouragingly, the gender diversification of the electorate is very apparent with an increase of 27.90 percent in female electors,” it mentions.