Bihar: Over 22 lakh women voters’ names deleted ahead of polls
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New Delhi: The names of 22.7 lakh women voters have reportedly been deleted from Bihar’s electoral rolls, a move likely to influence the state assembly elections scheduled later this year.
Bihar has a total of 3.5 crore women voters, and the deletions contrast sharply with male voter deletions, where only 15.5 lakh names were removed out of 3.92 crore male voters. This has resulted in a significant gender gap in deletions, despite the male voter population being larger, reported The Tribune.
The deletions come at a time when the ruling BJP-JDU alliance has highlighted women’s welfare as a key agenda item. On October 3, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar transferred Rs 10,000 to each of 25 lakh women beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana. The scheme, launched on September 26 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after being announced on August 29, currently has one crore women beneficiaries.
District-wise, Gopalganj recorded the highest reduction in women voters, with a 15.1% decline, equating to 1.5 lakh deletions. Madhubani saw 1.3 lakh deletions, and Purvi Champaran had 1.1 lakh names removed, representing a 6.7% decrease. Saran and Bhagalpur also experienced deletions of around one lakh women voters each.
The six districts with the highest deletions – Gopalganj, Madhubani, Purvi Champaran, Saran, Bhagalpur, and Patna – collectively account for 59 Assembly seats. In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the opposition Mahagathbandhan had won 25 of these seats, while the NDA secured 34 seats.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is scheduled to visit Patna from October 4-5 to assess poll preparations, ahead of the expected announcement of assembly elections soon.
