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Women voters hold the key in several
constituencies in Maharashtra

Women voters outnumber men in five Lok Sabha and 48 Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra.

The revised voters list for the September 1999 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections show more women voters in Rajapur, Ratnagiri, Kulaba, Satara and Karad Lok Sabha constituencies.

Against the registered 3,45,015 men, there are 4,45,522 women voters constituting 56.35 per cent of the total 7,90,537 voters in the Rajapur Lok Sabha constituency which twice returned Union Environment Minister Suresh Prabhu (Shiv Sena) in 1996 and 1998. However, women voters have registered a decline of 1.52 per cent over their strength of 4,52,399 in 1998.

In the adjoining Ratnagiri there are 4,95,931 women voters against 3,76,999 men. They constitute 56.81 per cent of the total 8,72,930 voters. Women voters here have registered an increase of two per cent over their strength of 4,86,003 in 1998. Shiv Sena candidate Anant Gangaram Geete was re-elected from this constituency in the last election.

In Kulaba, there are 5,79,441 women voters against 5,73,000 men. The number of women voters this time went up by 20,217, an increase of 3.61 per cent over their 1998 strength of 5,59,224. They now constitute 50.26 per cent of the total 11,52,842 voters. Former chief minister, A R Antulay, who was thrice elected from this constituency lost to Ramesh Thakur of the Peasants and Workers Party in the last election.

Quite surprisingly not a single woman candidate has ever fought an election from these three Constituencies.

All these three Lok Sabha constituencies fall in the coastal Konkan region and are spread over three districts - Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Raigad.

Women voters outnumber men in these districts because a large number of men take up jobs in Mumbai and due to the acute housing problem in the metropolis, leave their families behind.

A large number of men from the region serving in the army is also attributed as among the reasons for this phenomenon.

Industrialisation and other economic developments coupled with spread of higher education facilities, however, has arrested migration of men from the region.

A large number of families depended, in the past, on money orders received from their men folk serving in Mumbai and in the army and the region's ecomomy was thus referred to as ''money order economy.''

In the 48 assembly constituencies, including Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts of western Maharashtra, the story is the same as that in the Konkan region.

With a large number of men working as mathadis (head-load carriers), taxi drivers and factory workers in Mumbai, they are not registered as voters here.Besides, these districts, particularly Satara, have a large number of men serving in the army. There are some villages in these districts where every family has at least one or two members in the army.

In Satara Lok Sabha constituency, there are 5,02,112 women voters against 4,82,526 men.

However, despite having higher percentage of women voters, Satara has never elected a woman either to the Lok Sabha or the State Assembly. The lone but unsuccessful attempt was made in 1980 by Shalinitai Patil, former revenue minister and wife of former chief minister Vasantdada Patil.

Ironically, despite the number of women voters being larger than men, the three districts of Konkan, comprising 18 assembly seats, have returned only one woman contestant. The lone woman to win a assembly election from these districts was Peasants and Workers Party's Meenakshi Patil. She won the election from the Alibag Assembly constituency.

UNI

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