Male voters cruise ahead in Chandigarh

As per the data shared by the Chandigarh election department on Sunday, a total of 4,48,547 people cast their votes on Saturday

The final phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday saw Chandigarh recording a voter turnout of 67.98%, with male voters outnumbering females, a departure from pattern observed in the past two parliamentary elections.

Of the 4,48,547 voters, 2,34,525 were men, which took the male turnout to 68.67%. On the other hand, the number of female electors was 2,13,995, translating to a turnout of 67.25%. (Keshav Singh/HT)

An estimated 6,59,805 voters had enrolled to decide the fate of 19 candidates in the race for the Chandigarh parliamentary seat. These included 3,41,544 males, 3,18,226 females and 35 transgenders.

As per the data shared by the Chandigarh election department on Sunday, a total of 4,48,547 people cast their votes on Saturday.

Chandigarh deputy commissioner-cum-returning officer Vinay Pratap Singh, said, “Till Saturday, Chandigarh received a total of 800 postal ballots, including 598 home voting ballots and 202 service voter postal ballots. The total turnout of 4,48,547 voters does not include the 800 postal ballots.”

Of the 4,48,547 voters, 2,34,525 were men, which took the male turnout to 68.67%. On the other hand, the number of female electors was 2,13,995, translating to a turnout of 67.25%.

The election department had conducted several activities to engage voters and set up five special pink booths (managed only by women) to motivate women voters.

This is unlike the previous trends, when women voters had surpassed men. In the 2019 polls, 70.79% females and 70.32% males had cast votes, whereas in 2014, 74.04% females had turned up to vote against 73.42% male voters.

In the 2019 parliamentary election, the city had recorded a better overall turnout of 70.6%, though a drop from 73.7% witnessed in 2014.

77% third gender electors voted

Of the total 35 voters registered in the third gender category, as many as 27 voters exercised their right to vote this time, taking their turnout to 77.14%.

The polling percentage among the transgenders improved significantly, as only 14 out of the total 21 (67%) had polled in 2019. Chandigarh’s transgender state icon Dhananjay Chauhan had also urged the voters to cast their votes and held several awareness sessions.

‘Heatwave major reason behind low turnout’

Professor Ashutosh Kumar of Panjab University’s political science department said, “Long queues were witnessed in colonies and erstwhile villages, as compared to shorter queues in sectoral areas. Summers played a huge role in dropped voter turnout as not many people came out during afternoon hours. Also, being a long weekend and a heatwave, people moved to hill stations and didn’t give priority to duty to vote.”