In Tamil Nadu, women voters surpassed men voters by a thin margin of 0.27 percentage points in exercising their franchise in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the polling for which was held on Friday, according to the revised turnout data released by the Election Commission of India on Sunday.
The total turnout now stood at 69.72%, relatively lesser than the figures recorded in the previous general elections in the State. Of a total of 6,23,33,925 electors in Tamil Nadu, 4,34,58,875 exercised their franchise. In terms of percentage, women voters (69.85%) surpassed men voters (69.58%) by a narrow margin.
Of 3,17,19,665 women electors, 2,21,58,256 cast their votes and of 3,06,05,793 men electors, 2,12,97,903 exercised their franchise. In the ‘others’ category, out of 8,467 electors, only 2,716 cast their vote, registering a turnout of 32.07%.
More than 75% of women electors turned up to vote at nine seats – Dharmapuri, Kallakurichi, Karur, Perambalur, Chidambaram (SC), Namakkal, Salem, Villupuram (SC) and Arani. However, women who voted were relatively less in the three Chennai seats and its neighbouring constituencies. Less than 60% of them cast their vote in Chennai Central, Chennai South, Chennai North and Sriperumbudur.
The difference in percentage points between women and men voters was less than one in 10 constituencies – Madurai, Dindigul, Arani, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, Namakkal, Villupuram (SC), Tiruvannamalai and Dharmapuri – denoting that almost an equal percentage of women and men had exercised their franchise here.
The difference was three to five percentage points between women and men voters in Kanniyakumari, Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Kallakurichi, Chennai Central, Sriperumbudur, Chennai North, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram seats.
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Small difference
In seven constituencies, the difference in percentage points between men and women voters was nearly 0.5.
There was only 0.69 percentage point difference between men and women voters in Coimbatore, where BJP State president K. Annamalai had contested. Similarly, in Chennai South, where the incumbent Thamizhachi Thangapandian of the DMK faced off against J. Jayavardhan, a former AIADMK MP, and Tamilisai Soundararajan of the BJP, the difference between men and women voters was 1.94 percentage points.
Some of the other constituencies such as Tirunelveli (1.11), Theni (1.3), Erode (1.56), and Vellore (1.18), where there was a tough fight, also witnessed less than two percentage point difference between men and women voters.
Interestingly in Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituencies, the percentage point difference between men and women voters were relatively higher, compared with other seats.
In Ramanathapuram, the women voters were 8.98 percentage points more than men voters. Similarly in Sivaganga, women voters were 8.11 percentage points more than men voters.
Others category
In the ‘others’ category, the highest percentage of voters was registered in Karur (62.22), followed by Dharmapuri (50.28). In respect of this category, the turnout was less than 30% in 17 constituencies, including seats in Chennai and its neighbouring areas.
