10 election districts have more women voters than men

As many as 10 election districts out of the 35 in the State have more women voters than men. In all, the State has nearly 5.07 crore voters — including 2.5 crore women voters, and 5,055 third gender voters — with a gender ratio of 974.

Fact sheet
  • Constituency with the highest number of voters: Bengaluru South (6.03 lakh)
  • Constituency with the lowest number of voters: Sringeri (1.66 lakh)
  • Highest number of male and female voters: Bengaluru South (Male - 3.22 lakh, female - 2.8 lakh)
  • Least number of male voters: Sringeri (82,003)
  • Least number of female voters: Yellapur (83,390)
  • District with highest voter count: Belagavi (37.23 lakh)
  • District with lowest voter count: Kodagu (4.33 lakh)
  • Highest number of third gender persons: Bengaluru Urban (643)
  • Lowest number of third gender persons: Uttara Kannada (10)

The final voters’ list containing names of those eligible to vote in this elections, released here by the Election Commission on Tuesday, shows that Raichur, Ballari, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, Ramanagaram, Chamarajanagar, and Chickballapur districts boasts more women voters than men. The difference between male and female voters is less than 2,100 in four districts. While in Bagalkot, the difference is 445, in Koppal it is 1,188, in Yadgir it is 1,149, and in Mandya the difference is 2,070.

“The ratio of women voters has risen by 16% in recent times,” Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar told presspersons here on Tuesday. Incidentally, the commission has been on an overdrive to bring more women to the polling booths by enrolling new voters and announcing the setting up of pink polling booths which will be handled by women.

A press release said that during the continuous updation drive from March 1 to April 22, more women had enrolled than men. The net inclusion during this period is 5.37 lakh women as against 4.98 lakh men. While the gender ratio during the 2013 election was 958, it has now improved to 974.

More icons

The Election Commission has roped in more icons to promote voter awareness programme to increase the voter turnout. They are TV artistes Rajini and R.B. Vaishnavi, singer Chandan Shetty, and film actor Vasishta N. Simha. According to Mr. Kumar icons were being selected from various walks of life to reach the common man effectively.

Officials who refuse to join poll duty to be arrested

The Election Commission, which is struggling to bring together the number of employees required for election duty, on Tuesday said that those officials who refuse to join duty would be arrested and action taken against them.

The threat came after it found several officials, especially in urban areas, showing reluctance to join electoral work. In Bengaluru alone, 1,500 cases of officials skipping election duty has been reported and they have been warned.

“We will take strict action against those who refuse to work on election duty. The problem is more in Bengaluru,” the Chief Electoral Officer told reporters.

The Election Commission is trying to rope in about 3.5 lakh people for election duty across the 224 constituencies. Failure to report for election training, mustering and election duty is an offence as per the Representation of People Act, 1951, a release said.