Low turnout of female voters in Ctg

The January 7 national elections saw a frustratingly low turnout of female voters in most constituencies of Chattogram district.

Sense of insecurity, sudden violence at polling centres and lack of competition in the polls demotivated the female voters to exercise their constitutional right, observed this correspondent.

The Election Commission, however, said it has no separate data about votes cast by women. "We only maintain the overall data," said Enamul Haque, senior election officer of Chattogram.

An average of 39.02 percent votes were cast across 16 constituencies of Chattogram.

Chattogram-6 (Raozan upazila) saw the highest 73.24 percent votes cast while Chattogram-11 (Bandar) saw the lowest 20.45 percent, said election officials.

There are a total of 63,14,397 voters in Chattogram, including 32,89,590 male, 30,24,751 female and 56 third gender. The January 7 polls saw 23,23,841 votes cast, of which 22,46,971 were counted as 76,870 were cancelled over various reasons, they added.

Our correspondents talked to nearly 100 female voters in Chattogram-5 (Hathazari), Chattogram-2 (Fatikchhari), Chattogram-14 (Chandanish), Chattogram-15 (Satkania-Lohagara) and Chattogram-11 (Bandar-Patenga) during the polls.

"At first, I was confused whether I should come to vote as my previous experience during union parishad polls was not good. But I gathered courage and cast my vote finally," said Peyer Jan, 70, at Khagoria Gani Para Govt High School centre in Satkania.

At the centre, only four female voters were seen in the queue in the morning. Of the 2,698 female voters at the centre, only around 20 percent of votes were cast, said presiding officer Abul Bashar.

A similar situation prevailed in Demsha Govt Primary School centre under Chattogram-15 (Satkania-Lohagara) around 10:30am.

"Homemakers are afraid due to previous incidents of election violence. Others asked me not to come, but I came and cast my vote," said Lutfunnesa, 67.

Rabeya Begum, 60, of Fatehpur union in Hathazari said she did not cast her vote considering the lack of competition, possibility of violence and irregularities.

Jesmin Akhter, 58, a voter of Chawkbazar-Sulokbahar area (under Chattogram-8) of the city, echoed the same.

Day-long violence was reported outside election centres in the Chandgaon area under Chattogram-8 on January 7.

"I was indifferent to vote as the polls were not competitive amid a lack of qualified candidates," said Rumana Jahan, a voter of Chattogram-11.

Khadizatul Anwar, AL candidate who won from Chattogram-2 (Fatikchhari), also expressed frustration about the low presence of female voters.

"Before the election, the rival candidates created panic among voters by hurling crude bombs in different areas, which is one of the reasons for low voter turnout. However, the overall turnout is 32.74 percent and I am happy with it," she added.

Prof Anwara Alam, educationist and women's rights leader in Chattogram, said, "We observed a low turnout of female voters in Chattogram due to concerns over possibility of polls violence. This is an alarming sign for any democratic society. Political leaders should address the issue immediately, otherwise it will only get worse."