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More women take part in polls than men: CEC Chandra
“India has witnessed a 235.72% increase in female electors since the 1971 elections,” Chandra added, while addressing an international webinar on Enhancing Electoral Participation of Women, Persons with Disabilities and Senior Citizen Voters: Sharing Best Practices and New Initiatives, organised by Election Commission of India (ECI).
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra on Friday said that women’s participation in Indian elections “exceeded that of men and stood at more than 67% in the 2019 General Election”, and that the Gender gap, which was -16.71% in 1962, has not only closed but reversed to +0.17% in 2019.
“India has witnessed a 235.72% increase in female electors since the 1971 elections,” Chandra added, while addressing an international webinar on Enhancing Electoral Participation of Women, Persons with Disabilities and Senior Citizen Voters: Sharing Best Practices and New Initiatives, organised by Election Commission of India (ECI).
The CEC briefed participants about the various initiatives undertaken by the Commission to enhance women’s participation in elections and make electoral practice more accessible and inclusive.
“(This) is an excellent opportunity to learn from the best practices and experiences of other election management bodies to identify and work towards removing barriers to ensure truly accessible, inclusive and participative elections,” Chandra said, according to a press statement by the ECI.
He also spoke about steps undertaken by ECI, such as using postal ballots, providing voting facilities at the doorstep to senior citizens, wheelchair facilities at polling booths, volunteer assistance, Braille EPIC cards, and braille signage in EVMs etc.
“In the last five state assembly elections, 4.5 times higher electors participated in the electoral process through postal ballots and there is scope for widening the outreach and facilitation efforts,” Chandra said.
Election commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, along with more than 100 delegates from 24 countries, four international organisations and 20 diplomats, participated in the webinar.
Pandey said that “technology has been a game changer in election management and has had a significant impact upon the electoral landscape vis-a-vis accessibility”, said the ECI statement
The webinar was organised to mark the completion of two years of the EC helming the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB).
