Odisha Elections 2024: Women Voters Outnumber Men In Exercising Franchise, Says CEO

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal on Monday said women voters outnumbered the men in the voting for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.

Addressing the media on Monday, Dhal said more than 2.5 crore voters exercised their franchise in the four-phase elections. The voter turnout increased in 2024 elections compared to 2019. “The total voter turnout, excluding postal ballots, was recorded at 74.44% in 2024 against 73.09% in 2019,” he said.

The CEO said of the total voters, who participated in the polling in this election, 73.37% were male and 75.55% female.

“Out of 21 Parliamentary constituencies, voter turnout increased in 16 and came down in the rest five seats. The vote reduction in Berhampur and Bhadrak seats was less then 0.5%, while it was a little more than 1% in Mayurbhanj and Kendrapada. The highest reduction of over 3% was reported from Aska where 62.27% of voters cast their votes this time against 65.73% in 2019,” Dhal said.

On the arrangements for counting of votes on Tuesday, the CEO said it will be held in 70 counting centres. Both EVM and postal ballots will be counted in 69 counting centres. Only postal ballots of Berhampur and Aska will be done at a centre in Chhatrapur. “We have received 1.47 lakh postal ballots for the Lok Sabha and 1.46 lakh in the case for Assembly polls,” he added.

“For counting of EVM votes, total 3,589 tables have been arranged across the state. Those include 1,799 tables for Assembly elections and 1,790 for Parliamentary elections. Over 30 rounds of counting will be held in 8 Assembly segments while less than 30 rounds will be held in the remaining seats,” he added.