Women voters hold key to power in Arki

Ambika Sharma

Solan, November 13

Women voters hold the key in the Arki Assembly segment of Solan district, where their turnout was more than men during the polling on Saturday.

There are five Assembly segments in Solan district. Barring Arki, men have outperformed women voters in four other segments — Nalagarh, Doon, Solan and Kasauli. The trend of higher turnout of men was visible in urban and rural areas alike. Also, there was no woman candidate in the fray from the BJP or the Congress in the district.

However, women outperformed men in voting in Arki. As many as 36,042 women exercised their franchise in Arki vis-à-vis 35,414 men. The trend’s not new for the segment as during the earlier polls too, women had registered higher participation than men.

“Women is Arki are not only aware of their right to vote, but they also want to ensure their participation in the democratic process to elect leaders who will shape the state,” said Pushpa, a villager who has been voting in all elections.

The trend was no different in Solan, which is dominated by urban voters. The district saw the least percentage of voter turnout. As against 29,687 men, 27,765 women exercised their right to franchise.

Like other urban areas, women in Solan appeared indifferent towards voting. Though Solan has a sizable number of government employees but women voters remained away from voting. Being a holiday, urban voters, it seems, preferred taking an outstation trip to enjoy the long weekend.

In the Nalagarh segment, as against 37,445 men, the number of women voters was 36,615. In the neighbouring Doon segment, 31,590 men voted while barely 29,412 women turned out to vote. The same trend was reported in the Kasauli segment, where as against 27,798 men the number of women voters was 25,798.