Phase 2: 10 of 11 seats saw higher women voter turnout than men

Jammu: At least 11 of the 26 seats from Jammu and Kashmir that went to polls in the second phase saw more women voters in attendance than men, data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday shows.
The average voter turnout was 57.31%. The male voter turnout was 58.35% against the female turnout of 56.22%. However, there were 11 seats — 10 from Jammu division — where the female voter turnout was higher than male.
The 10 seats of Jammu division that went to polls earlier this week and witnessed higher women voter turnout were Gulabgarh, Reasi, Kalakote-Sunderbani, Nowshera, Rajouri, Budhal, Thannamandi, Surankote, Poonch Haveli and Mendhar. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi was the only seat from the Jammu division where male voter turnout was higher. In Kashmir, Khansahib seat reported higher female voter turnout.
In terms of overall voter turnout, the newly formed Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Assembly constituency saw higher voter turnout at 80.45%. The seat also saw the highest male voter turnout (80.78%) as well as female (80.08%) among all seats. It was the only seat that reported more than 80% voter turnout in the 26 seats.
On the other hand, Kashmir’s Habbakadal seat saw just 19.81% voter turnout. The male voter turnout in Habbakadal was 22.96%, while female was 16.70% – lowest in respective categories across the 26 seats.
As many as eight seats witnessed less than 50% voter turnout – Eidgah (36.95%), Lal Chowk (34.15%), Hazratbal (32.39%), Central Shalteng (31.84%), Zadibal (30.78%), Channapora (29.53%), Khanyar (26.09%), and Habbakadal (19.81%).
Last week, News18 reported about the voter turnout in the first phase of polling and that in at least six of the 24 seats that went to polls first, women voters outnumbered men. The six seats where women outnumbered men in voter turnout were Bhadarwah, Doda, Doda West, Inderwal, Kishtwar and Kokernag. Five were from Jammu division while one, Kokernag, was from Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir, an erstwhile state, is going to polls for the first time after 2014 and post the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
The 90-seat assembly will have three-phase elections. The first phase covering 24 seats was held on September 18, the second phase covering 26 seats went to polls on September 25. The third and the biggest phase with 40 seats will vote on October 1 before counting of votes on October 8.

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