In 3 of four Pithoragarh seats, women voters outnumber men

PITHORAGARH: In Pithoragarh, women voters outnumber their male counterparts in three out of four constituencies. According to the district election commission data released last year, women voters are more than men in Dharchula, Didihat and Pithoragarh constituencies.

Only the

Scheduled

Caste-reserved constituency of

Gangolihat

has more men voters (52,595) than women (49,592). In all, the total number of registered women voters in Pithoragarh is 1,90,736, just 108 short of 1,90,844 men electors.

Incidentally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded only one woman candidate from the district -- Chandra Pant, widow of former cabinet minister

Prakash Pant

, who is contesting from Pithoragarh.

In the 2017 assembly elections, the party had given tickets to two women candidates -- Geeta Gangola (Gangolihat) and Chandra Pant (Pithoragarh) -- and both of them won from their seats.

Congress, on the other hand, is yet to announce its candidates from the district.

Social worker and political observer

Prakash Pande

told TOI, “In all four constituencies, women voters have the potential to turn the tide of the election. However, it may not be right to presume that women candidates receive more support from women voters. There are many other factors that affect their voting preference.”

Earlier this month, the Election Commission had released the revised Uttarakhand voter list. According to it, the hill state has a total of 81.43 lakh voters, including 42.24 lakh men and 39.19 lakh women voters.