EC LS polls data: Women outshine men in exercising franchise

New Delhi: As many as 64.64 crore voters exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year with women voters outnumbering men, according to statistical data released by the Election Commission on Thursday.

The female voter turnout stood at 65.78 per cent as compared to 65.55 per cent for male electors, the EC said.

EC functionaries asserted that such granular data is not shared by any of the election management bodies in democracies across the world.

The data on Lok Sabha polls, 2024 and four assembly elections -- Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh -- held alongside parliamentary polls comes against the backdrop of allegations of non-disclosure by the EC.

“This suo motu initiative is to enhance the public trust that constitutes the underpinning of India’s electoral system,” the EC said.

The EC said the number of female contesting candidates was 800, compared to 726 in 2019. Maharashtra had the highest number of women contesting candidates with 111 in the fray, followed by 80 in Uttar Pradesh and 77 in Tamil Nadu.

A total of over 97.97 crore citizens had registered themselves as electors as compared to over 91.19 crore in 2019 -- an increase of 7.43 per cent.