Comprehending the Impressive Surge of Women Voters Across the Country

As India gears up for the general elections, it’s important to examine women’s voting behavior, preferences, and their representation in the legislature.

In India, like in numerous democracies worldwide, there has persistently existed a noticeable gender disparity in political engagement among citizens. Over the years, Indian men have consistently demonstrated higher rates of voter turnout on election day compared to women. However, a significant development occurred during the 2019 general elections when the longstanding gap between male and female voter turnout vanished. Projections for India’s forthcoming 2024 general elections indicate that this trend is expected to persist.

Out of the nearly one billion individuals set to cast their votes in India’s upcoming general elections, a remarkable 471 million are women.

Data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) reveals that the number of registered female voters for the forthcoming elections has surged by approximately 40 million compared to the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Moreover, the number of first-time female electors stands at about 141 million, surpassing their newly enrolled male counterparts at 122 million, based on the data as of January 1.

The historic 2019 Lok Sabha elections marked the first time in 70 years of Independent India where more women turned out to vote than men.

Nalin Mehta, in his book “The New BJP,” highlights the significant shift witnessed during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Since 1962, when the Election Commission of India (ECI) began recording separate data for male and female voters, women voters in India had consistently trailed behind men in voter turnout. In 1962, for instance, 62.1 percent of male voters participated compared to only 46.7 percent of female voters, marking a substantial 15.4 percent gender gap in turnout.

However, by the time of the 2014 national elections, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured his first victory, this gap had narrowed considerably to just 1.5 percent. Remarkably, in 2019, when Modi secured his second term, there was a notable increase in women’s voter turnout. Additionally, it was the first general election where women voted more than men in favor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Political parties have recognized this evolving trend of increased female participation in India’s electoral process, which has traditionally been male-dominated.

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