Nearly 4 in 10 women skip Graduates’ poll across Nagpur division

Nagpur: Nearly four in ten registered female graduates stayed away from Friday’s Nagpur Division Graduates’ Constituency election, with the final figures revealing a significant gender gap in voter participation across all six districts.While 69.03% of registered men exercised their franchise, women’s turnout remained at 59.09%, a difference of nearly 10 percentage points.According to the final figures released by the administration on Saturday, 44,302 of the 1.08 lakh registered female electors did not vote. Among men, 45,608 stayed away.Gadchiroli recorded the highest female turnout among all six districts, followed by Chandrapur at 66.72% and Gondia at 66.23%. Wardha registered 61.99% female participation, while Bhandara recorded 59.13%. Nagpur district, which accounts for more than half the constituency’s registered electorate, recorded the lowest female turnout at 56.05%.The disparity was particularly pronounced in Bhandara, where the gap between male and female turnout reached 12.80 percentage points, the widest in the division. Wardha followed with a gap of 10.56 points, while Chandrapur recorded a difference of 9.77 points.Political analysts suggest that community participation and differing attitudes towards voting could explain the rural-urban divide. “Rural voters often view elections as a collective responsibility, with family discussions and community involvement encouraging participation. This could partly explain the higher female turnout in Gadchiroli. However, Nagpur has a much larger female electorate, and percentages alone cannot capture the complete picture. But as observed in previous elections as well, urban voters increasingly treat voting as an individual choice,” said a political analyst.Meanwhile, the final voter turnout was revised marginally upwards to 64.82%, from the earlier reported 64.76%. Of the constituency’s 2,55,603 registered electors, 1,65,672 cast their ballots. Interestingly, the final figures also recorded one vote from the ‘other’ gender category, cast in Nagpur district. The constituency had 22 registered electors in this category, all from Nagpur, making it the only district to record such a vote.GADCHIROLI LEADS IN WOMEN’S PARTICIPATIONGadchiroli recorded the highest female turnout in the division at 67.31%, with 2,893 of its 4,298 registered women voting. Nagpur, despite having 67,690 registered female graduates, recorded the lowest participation rate at 56.05%.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Nagpur | Silver Rate in Nagpur | Bank Holidays in Nagpur | Public Holidays in Nagpur | Petrol Price in Nagpur | Diesel Price in Nagpur | CNG Price in Nagpur | LPG Price in NagpurStay updated with the latest Nagpur news. Download the TOI App.