Littipara bypoll: Women voters outshine men

Dumka: Women voters turned up in large numbers than the men in the tribal heartland of Littipara, which went to the polls on Sunday in the wake of the death of former JMM MLA Anil Murmu. The byelection, though, marked a decline in voter turnout. This time the turnout was recorded at 72.11 percent as compared to the 76 percent in the 2014 assembly election.

The byelection assumed significance for both the ruling BJP and the JMM in the backdrop of the controversial amendment of tenancy laws and local policy introduced by the Raghubar Das government.

Women voters, including those in their sixties and beyond, were witnessed outside the polling booths right from the morning, having travelled 3-4 kilometres, and this trend continued till late in the afternoon. There were 96,214 registered women electorates in Littipara constituency in comparison to 93,915 men. “I decided to skip breakfast so that I can cast my vote early. But it was in vain as by the time my turn came, it was around 12 noon and the EVM machine had stopped working,” rued Lukhi Marandi, who is in her sixties and hails from Lukhibad village, under Gopikandar block of Littipara constituency.

Reports of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and Voter-verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) not working were received from some other places as well. Voting was disrupted in Littipara, Amrapara and Hiranpur (all in Pakur) and Gopikandar (Dumka) due to EVM malfunction. Pakur deputy commissioner-cum-returning officer A Muthu Kumar said 8 EVM machines and 21 VVPATs were replaced due to technical snag.