India is still witnessing an imbalanced sex ratio when you talk about registration of voters. Recently, there were some pretty surprising statistics from the Election Commission, which showcases India’s continuing story of gender inequalities since 1971. As per reports, this was the time when the gender break-up of electorates was first recorded. Out of the total 23.16 million first-time voters enrolled voters for the 16th Lok Sabha polls, only 41% of the 18-19 year-olds registered voters are women, while 96 lakh of them are as against 1.4 crore new male voters.
In India, states like Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chandigarh and Gujarat have the most skewed electoral sex ratios. Though the time has changed with improved literacy, intervention of government agencies and aggressive efforts of political parties to bring more people to vote, it is the patriarchal nature of Indian society that fails to bring in more female voters. With a motive to engage more women, the EC has launched various campaigns like appealing to them to vote through household items like gas cylinders and advertisements on all means of media.
Mohd Zeyaullah Khan
Nagpur