Telangana civic elections: Women outnumber men at poll stations, may tilt scales

HYDERABAD: Women turned up in large numbers in the polling held for 120 municipalities and nine municipal corporations on Wednesday. Nearly 70% women had exercised their franchise, 1% more than male voters, 69 per cent. Interestingly, at six places, 90% of the total woman voters turned up to cast their votes, while at a dozen places, women polling percentage crossed 85.The woman voters’ turnout is nearly same as the state poll average, i.e., 70.26%.
Of the 34.95 lakh votes polled on Wednesday, 17.37 lakh voters were women, approximately 69.94%, while 17.13 lakh voters were males (68.80%), Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) authorities said.
The women seem to have shown more interest in polling in the municipalities than the corporations. In the Choutuppal municipality in Yadadri-Bhongir district, 93.22% of women turned up to vote, while 92.46% in Chandur and 92.22% in Pochamapally in Nalgonda and Yadadri districts respectively.
“During the previous civic body elections in 2014, woman voters’ polling percentage was about 65, which was 5% more than the previous election. The number of woman candidates in the electoral contests is also rising with every election,” a senior SEC official said.
Among districts, Yadadri-Bhongir topped the list with the maximum turnout of women, scoring 87%, followed by Warangal Rural (84%), and Suryapet, Sircilla and Khammam (83% each) rescpectively.
Election analyst S Ramakistaiah said, “It is a good sign that women turned up in large number at the polling stations, but we have to see whether it will be an advantage to the woman candidates. Even politicians believe female voters are more faithful than their male counterparts.”