Women voters will play a decisive role in four Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, as they outnumber male voters in the electoral roll.
The four Lok Sabha seats where women outnumber male voters are — Rajmahal, Singhbhum, Khunti and Lohardaga — all reserved for scheduled tribe (ST) category.
Singhbhum, Khunti and Lohardaga will go to polls on May 13, while Rajmahal on June 1, an election official said.
Jharkhand has 14 Lok Sabha seats.
Political parties, mainly the BJP and INDIA bloc partners, have already started chalking out strategies to galvanise the support of female voters in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Khunti Lok Sabha seat has the highest number of women voters compared to males in the State. The total number of women electors in the constituency is 6,67,946, while the number of male voters is 6,44,311 out of the total voters of 13,12,261 in the constituency, according to the State electoral roll.
The Khunti seat is represented by senior BJP leader and Union Minister Arjun Munda, who won the seat in 2019 by a narrow margin of just 1,445 votes from Congress' Kalicharan Munda. The BJP has again fielded him from the seat. INDIA bloc is yet to announce its candidate for the seat.
Singhbhum is another tribal Lok Sabha seat where the number of female voters is higher than male. Out of the total voters of 14,32,934, the constituency has 7,27,734 women electors and 7,05,167 male voters.
The battle in Singhbhum is poised to be interesting as it has traditionally been a stronghold of the Jharkhand Party and Congress, with both parties winning the seat five times each. Geeta Kora, Jharkhand's lone Congress MP and wife of former CM Madhu Koda, recently joined the BJP and has been fielded from the Singhbhum (ST) seat, which she won in 2019 by defeating BJP's Laxman Gilua. INDIA bloc has not yet announced its candidate for the seat but JMM is likely to contest from the seat.
In Lohardaga Lok Sabha seat, the number of women voters is 7,19,616 against the male electors of 7,07,402. The constituency has a total of 14,27,022 voters. The BJP has fielded its Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand Samir Oraon, whose term is ending on May 3, for the Lok Sabha polls, from the seat.
In Rajmahal seat, out of a total of 16,82,219 lakh voters, 8,41,217 are female and 8,40,995 are male voters. Vijay Kumar Hansdak of JMM won the Rajmahal Lok Sabha constituency in 2019, defeating Hemlal Murmu of BJP. The BJP has fielded its former Jharkhand state president Tala Marandi from the Rajmahal (ST) seat, while JMM is yet to announce its candidate from the seat.
An election official, who was involved in the preparation of the electoral roll, said that they found female sex ratio is higher in several tribal-dominated pockets. "This is one of the reasons. Besides, gender equality is seen in tribal communities and women are equally active as men in these pockets", he said.
State coordinator of National Election Watch (NEW), a nationwide campaign on electoral reforms, improving democracy and governance in India, Sudhir Pal told PTI that they find tribal women are more active in socio-economic or social-political activities.
"Women self-help groups have also played a significant role in increasing the number of women voters and their participation in polling. Besides, tribal women are more attentive towards the electoral roll", he said.
Meanwhile, the BJP as well as INDIA bloc partners have started chalking out a strategy to woo the women voters of these tribal segments into their fold.
Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said that the central government launched hordes of schemes and projects for women such as LPG connections under the Ujjwala scheme, Matru Vandana Scheme and Jan Man scheme to uplift the women of the society. "We will go with these messages to the women voters of these segments", he said.
State Congress spokesperson Sonal Shanti said that they would go with 'Nari Nyay' and Adivasi Nyay guarantees to the women of these segments.
"Our leader Rahul Gandhi has announced Nari Nyay guarantee for development of the women and Adivasi Nyay to protect tribal's jal, jungle and zamin. Besides, the coalition government in Jharkhand has also reduced the eligibility age for availing pension from 60 years to 50 years. We believe women voters would come in full support of INDIA bloc this election", Shanti said.
