EC shares Lok Sabha poll data to ‘enhance public trust’

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) on Thursday (December 26).

Of the total voters, 32.9 crore were male, 31.2 crore female, and 13 crore belonging to the third gender. The female voter turnout stood at 65.78 per cent as compared to 65.55 per cent for male electors, the EC said.

The number of women candidates contesting the polls this time was 800, as against 726 in the 2019 polls, the commission said.

Also read: Comparing 5 PM voter turnout with final data is misleading: EC to Cong

Initiative to enhance public trust

“This suo moto (sic) initiative is to enhance the public trust that constitutes the underpinning of India’s electoral system,” the EC said.

The data comes against the backdrop of allegations that there was fudging in figures of voter turnout in the Lok Sabha elections. The data also relates to the four assembly polls — Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim.

Dhubri in Assam was the constituency to record the highest turnout (92.3 per cent) while Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir recorded the lowest at 38.7 per cent, still much better compared to 14.4 per cent in 2019.

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Repolls, the EC pointed out, were held in 40 polling stations or 0.0038 per cent of the total 10.52 lakh polling stations as compared to 540 in 2019.

(With agency inputs)