In Nawanshahr, women hold key to power

Avneet Kaur

Nawanshahr, February 21

Even though the voter turnout has marginally declined this time, the participation of women in the elections has gradually improved. Since the last five years, women voters in the district are enthusiastically turning up for voting in large numbers in all three Assembly segments of the district.

Turnout in Nawanshahr: 70.75%

The Nawanshahr district recorded 70.75 per cent voters’ turnout in recently concluded Assembly poll. Balachaur registered the highest voting, followed by Banga and Nawanshahr. About 73.77 per cent voting was recorded in Balachaur, while Banga and Nawanshahr registered 69.39 and 69.37 per cent voting, respectively.

Booths with highest, lowest poll percentage in district

• In Nawanshahr, the polling booths at government elementary schools in Talwandi Sibu and Nilowal recorded the highest poll percentage. In Talwandi Sibu, the poll percentage was 83.11%, followed by Nilowal which registered 82.25% turnout. Meanwhile, the polling booth at Government Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh road, recorded the lowest turnout with 51.31%.
• In Banga, the Government Elementary School, Mehrampur, recorded the highest poll percentage as 76.08% voters turned up to cast their votes at the booth, while the booth at Government Senior Secondary School, Banga, registered the lowest poll percentage as only 51.37% voters turned up to exercise their right to franchise.
• In Balachaur, which recorded the highest voters’ turnout as compared to Banga and Nawanshahr, the booth at RNBGM High School, Bana, registered the highest poll percentage as 87.50% voters cast their votes at the booth, while the Government Primary School, Ansron, recorded the lowest poll percentage as only 47.68% turned up to cast their vote.

As per the data procured from the district administration, the poll percentage of women in all past elections be it 2017 Assembly poll, 2019 Lok Sabha poll, Zila Parishad elections and the recently concluded 2022 Assembly poll is fairly better than their men counterparts.

In the recently concluded 2022 poll, a total of 1,77,669 women (73.79 per cent) voters exercised their right to franchise, whereas only 1,74,393 men (67.90 per cent) voted.

Constituency wise, Balachar recorded the highest polling percentage of women voters which was 73.77 per cent, followed by Banga and Nawanshahr, which registered 69.39 per cent and 69.37 per cent, respectively.

In 2017, not just the polling percentage was better as compared to 2022 poll, even the male and female turnout had a difference of eight per cent. The polling percentage of women voters was 81.76 per cent, while the percentage of male voters was 73.70 per cent.

The same trend was witnessed in the 2018 Zila parishad and block samiti elections in which the contribution of women voters in strengthening democracy at the grassroots level for the Panchayati Raj Institutions was 64.88 per cent, while the total turnout was 60.70 per cent. Similarly, in 2019 Lok Sabha poll, as many as 69.96 per cent women cast their votes while 63.63 per cent men exercised their right to franchise.

Even though district administration officials say that it is a good sign that women are becoming more aware and coming out in a large number to cast their votes, the political pundits have their own reasons behind this trend.

They say as Nawanshahr is an NRI hub, there has been a lot of migration from the villages towards foreign lands which could be the possible reason for low men turnout. “Every third house in the village has a member settled in Canada, Australia, England or America. Some has gone on study or work permits, while many have moved illegally”, said a political observer, adding that first-time voters’ percentage, too, had fallen down to nearly half this time as compared to 2017.