This election also recorded a narrow gap of 0.4% between male and female voters. Female voters even overtook male voters in a few states and union territories. The seven-phase election began on April 11 and concluded on May 19.
“The gap between turnout of male and female voters has narrowed down significantly from 9% in 2009 to only 0.4% in this election,” Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha told the Times of India. Women outnumbered men in locations including Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Mizoram and Tamil Nadu, among others.
Turnout in south Indian states
Andhra Pradesh, which voted in the first phase of the polls held on April 11, saw an overall voter turnout of 79.88%, an increase of 8.78% as compared to 2014. The state also had 3,27,038 more female voters than male. In the state, Rajahmundry saw the highest percentage increase in voter turnout, with a 28.24% increase. Twenty-two of 25 constituencies recorded a turnout of over 75%.
Telangana, however, saw a voter turnout of 62.53%, with 1,42,590 more male voters than female. The highest voter turnout of 75.18% was witnessed in Khammam, and the least was recorded in Hyderabad, at 44.75%. There is no comparison data for Telangana as erstwhile Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated after the 2014 polls.
Karnataka, which voted in phases 2 and 3, saw a voter turnout of 68.80% and 68.45% respectively. Here, however, there was a large gap between male and female voters, with 8,84,996 more male voters. There was a marginal increase in voter turnout of 1.11% from 2014 in phase 2 and 1.8% in phase 3. Mandya saw the highest increase in voters, with an 8.8% increase from 2014.
On the other hand, Kerala, which also voted in phase 3, saw an overall voter turnout of 77.67%, a 3.65% increase in voter turnout from 2014. In this state, the gap between female and male voters saw a reverse trend, where there were 9,10,742 more female voters than male. The state also saw voter turnouts over 73% across all 20 constituencies, with Thiruvananthapuram recording the least at 73.38% and Kannur the highest at 83.05%. Wayanad, which is one of two seats where Congress President Rahul Gandhi is contesting from, saw a 7% increase in voter turnout since 2014. Pathanamthitta, which witnessed a three-way contest, saw a voter increase of 8.17%.
Tamil Nadu, which voted in phase 2, saw a total voter turnout of 72.01%. Tamil Nadu also saw more female voters than male, with 5,64,858 more female voters. The state’s voter turnout has gone down by 1.65%, the only south Indian state to do so. Sriperumbudur saw the biggest drop in voter turnout -- by 4.59%. The highest increase in voter turnout was by 2.11% in Kanyakumari.