EC data on Lok Sabha polls: Women outshine men in exercising franchise

64.64 crore voters participated in Lok Sabha polls, with women voters surpassing men, according to Election Commission data.

“As many as 64.64 crore voters exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year with women voters outnumbering men,” according to statistical data released by the Election Commission (EC) of India on Thursday (December 26, 2024.)

“The female voter turnout stood at 65.78% as compared to 65.55% for male electors,” the EC said. EC functionaries asserted that such granular data is not shared by any of the election management bodies in democracies across the world.

The data on Lok Sabha polls, 2024 and four Assembly elections — Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh — held alongside Parliamentary polls comes against the backdrop of allegations of non-disclosure by the EC.

"This suo motu initiative is to enhance the public trust that constitutes the underpinning of India's electoral system," the EC said.

Referring to women participation in the polls, EC said the number of female contesting candidates was 800, compared to 726 in 2019. Maharashtra had the highest number of women contesting candidates with 111 in the fray, followed by 80 in Uttar Pradesh and 77 in Tamil Nadu.

But at the same time, out of the total 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, there were 152 where there were no women candidates. A total of more than 97.97 crore citizens had registered themselves as electors as compared to over 91.19 crore in 2019 — an increase of 7.43%.

“Out of these registered electors, 64.64 crore had cast votes in 2024, compared to 61.4 crore in 2019,” the EC said. According to the poll panel, any Indian citizen who registers in the electoral roll is defined as an elector. The elector who eventually votes is called voter.