Bhubaneswar: When the State and nation Saturday celebrate the 30th International Women’s Day with all rejoice and gusto, here is a shocker.
When women voters in Odisha has been regarded as the phenomenon behind regime change, and when women voter constitute nearly half (50.09%) of the total electors, also when the women turnout is higher than male voters, the shocker is women candidates have faced the waterloo at the 2024 hustings.
As per the Election Commission data, be it Parliamentary elections or State assembly, when it comes to forfeiture of deposits, women candidates have lost it in a big way.
WOMEN DEFEAT WOMEN?
The ECI data shows a total of 33 women candidates contested in 2024 Lok Sabha poll in the State. While only 4 women candidates (all BJP) have won the elections, the big revelation is 21 women candidates have forfeited their deposits.
The above numbers show nearly 64% of women contested in Lok Sabha have lost deposit.
As per ECI data, only 12% of the women candidate contested could win the lok sabha elections 2024. In the indicator of seats, elected women vis-a-vis proportion of Lok Sabha seats in the State has been estimated at 19.5%.
Odisha here fares poorer than Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, where teh ratio stood at 27.27% and 26.19% respectively.
The above numbers show women in neighbouring Chhattisgarh and West Bengal have won more seats than women in Odisha have won.
Similarly, when it comes to State Assembly elections, a total of 203 women contestants have filed nomination vis-a-vis 1228 males.
After rejections and withdrawal of nominations, the male candidates in the State Assembly polls stood at 1107 and the women candidates stood at 178.
At the hustings when 129 women candidates have lost their deposits, the male count stood at 823.
The above numbers so when 72% of women contested have lost their deposits in 2024 State Assembly polls, 74% of men have lost deposits.
The above number crunching shows in forfeiture of deposits, the proportion of men have been higher than females. It shows voters go by party and popularity of candidate - be it male or female.
WOMEN FRANCHISE
In the last elections of 2024, when the State as a whole has recorded 74.78% voter turnout, the women voter turnout stood higher at 75.56%. Here are the facts of women participation in elections in Odisha on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
The big fact is when it comes to number of electors in the country, Odisha with over 1.66cr women electors emerged as the 12th top state in the country.
- Kandhamal Parliamentary constituency emerged as the 23rd PC in the country, among the top 50 parliamentary constituencies that are having lowest female electors in the country
- The Elector Gender Ratio in Odisha stood at 972 in 2024 vis-a-vis 951 in 2019.
- An increase of 21 in gender ratio shows rise in women voters in Odisha.
- Odisha Capital BHUBANESWAR figures among the top 20 Parliamentary Constituencies in India which have recorded a least rise in female voters.
- Odisha Capital saw an increase of 13,167 female voters, which is mere 1.67%.
- But none of Odisha Parliamentary constituency figured among the top 50 constituences in the country that have posted a high growth in the range of 5-14% in women voters.
- Begusarai PC, Bihar has posted the highest growth in female voters (13.82%)
- Odisha women and male voter turnout gap stood at 2.4% (more women participated in Odisha elections than men)
