The Election Commission of India (ECI) hosted an international webinar, in New Delhi on the theme “Enhancing electoral participation of Women, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) & Senior citizen Voters: Sharing Best Practices and New Initiatives”.

Highlights

• In the webinar, the chief election commissioner of India, Sushil Chandra, noted that women’s participation in exercising franchise has overpassed that of men, after 7 decades and 17 general elections.
• Women’s participation stood at more than 67 per cent in 2019 General Election.
• The gender gap was -16.71 per cent in 1962, has reversed to +0.17 per cent in 2019.
• India has observed a 235.72 per cent increase in female electors since the 1971 elections.

Initiatives taken by ECI to increase women participation

The ECI has taken several initiatives to enhance women participation in election:

1. Associated more women as polling booth officials,
2. Large number of All Women Managed Polling Stations
3. Creche facility at Polling Stations
4. Separate toilets and waiting area at the polling booths

By: Brijesh Kumar