Women were standing in the queue from 5 am…
On Friday, 19 April 2024, Women, who outnumber male voters in all the five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam going to polls in the first phase, came out in large numbers.
Women were seen standing in a queue before polling stations from 5 am and most of them said they wanted to cast their vote early so that they could return home and continue with their daily chores.
The total number of women voters in the five constituencies is 43,64,859 compared to 42,82,887 men, while there are 123 from the third gender.
There are, however, only four women candidates in a row, constituting 11.4 percent of the total 35 contestants.
Three of the four candidates, including Congress' Roselina Tirkey and independent aspirant Diluwara Begum Chowdhury, the richest candidate in the first phase, are contesting from Kaziranga constituency, which has 10,25,210 women and 10,24,883 male voters.
Rinku Roy of Gana Sangram Parishad is contesting from Sonitpur which has 8,21,012 women and 8,12,755 men.
Jorhat constituency has 8,78,192 women and 8,48,923 men, Dibrugarh has 8,49,563 women voters and 8,09,990 males and Lakhimpur has 7,90,882 women voters and 7,86,335 males.
Women were seen dressed in their best with seniors in the traditional 'mekhla-chador' and young girls in various outfits waiting to vote.
Chanda Sonar; queued outside a polling booth in Tinsukia's Bengali Girls School, said she still does not have an Aadhaar card as her name has not been updated in the National Register of Citizens.
Edited By: Arusha Farooq
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