Women voters will play a crucial role in sealing the fate of candidates on four seats in Jharkhand in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as they outnumber male voters in the electoral roll.
Of the total 14 seats in Lok Sabha from Jharkhand, women outnumber four seats which are Rajmahal, Singhbhum, Khunti, and Lohardaga. All four seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category.
Voting in Singhbhum, Khunti, and Lohardaga will take place on May 13 while Rajmahal will go to poll on June 1, the last phase of the voting for the Lok Sabha polls.
Of the total 13,12,261 registered voters in the Khunti Lok Sabha seat, the total number of women electors is 6,67,946, while the number of male voters is 6,44,311.
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This Lok Sabha seat is currently represented by BJP leader and Union minister Arjun Munda. He has been renominated from the same seat for this year's polls while I.N.D.I.A bloc is yet to announce its candidate.
Another tribal Lok Sabha seat where female voters outnumber male electors is Singhbhum. The number of women voters in this constituency is 7,27,734 while male voters are 7,05,167 out of a total of 14,32,934 registered voters.
Singhbhum has been a bastion of the Congress and Jharkhand party with both parties winning the seat five times each. For this year's polls, Geet Kora, the lon Congress MP in the state and wife of former CM Madhu Koda has been fielded from this seat after joining the BJP. While I.N.D.I.A bloc has not announced its candidate for this seat, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is likely to contest from here.
The number of women voters in Lohardaga is 7,19,616 against the male electors of 7,07,402 out of a total of 14,27,022 voters. Rajya Sabha MP from the state Samir Oraon, whose term is ending on May 3, has been fielded from this seat by the BJP.
In the Rajmahal Lok Sabha seat, 8,41,217 women are registered in the electoral rolls while 8,40,995 are male voters. JMM's Vijay Kumar Hansdak won this seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections defeating BJP's Hemlal Murmu. The BJP has given a ticket to its former state unit president Tala Marandi from the Rajmahal (ST) seat, while JMM is yet to announce its candidate from the seat.