Malda: Ahead of the nationwide vote count on June 4, women voters in Malda have emerged victorious, outnumbering men in every Assembly constituency (AC) within the two Parliamentary seats in the district. This trend extends to the two ACs in Murshidabad district, Farakka and Samsherganj, which fall under the South Malda Lok Sabha seat. While the total number of electors favour women in only two ACs — English Bazar and Samsherganj, both in South Malda — the voter turnout reported on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website reveals that women have cast more votes than men in each AC under these two seats.
The prevalent belief regarding the low turnout of men is attributed to the significant number of males from Malda and Murshidabad districts who work as migrant labourers in other states and thus do not participate in voting. Additionally, it is noted that during Panchayat polls, local leaders of various parties make concerted efforts to bring back these migrants, recognising the importance of every vote in smaller electoral segments. However, such initiatives are not undertaken during Parliamentary elections, where the electorate is much larger.
According to the voter turnout report provided by the district election cell, a total of 7,41,887 women have cast their votes in North Malda, compared to only 6,73,825 men. Similarly, in the South Malda Lok Sabha constituency, 7,25,052 female voters have exercised their democratic rights, while only 6,41,667 men have done so. Mausam Noor, Rajya Sabha MP from Malda, remarked: “The responsibility for this can be attributed to the Union Ministry’s decision to cease funding for 100 days’ of work in Bengal. In 2019, fewer men were absent from the district due to work, but this year, a significant number of men have opted to become migrant labourers due to the lack of opportunities under MGNREGS in Bengal owing to the Union government stopping funds to the state.”