07 June 2024 Punjab Khabarnama : The AAP fared well in Anandpur Sahib and Hoshiarpur LS constituencies, but in the remaining three constituencies with more women voters, they favoured other parties over the ruling AAP, indicating a divergence.
Out of the 37 Assembly segments across five Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab where women voters dominated, the Congress took leads in at least 16 Assembly segments — 43 per cent of the 37 Assembly segments — over the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) despite the latter promising financial assistance of Rs 1,000 per month to women in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly elections and increased the amount to Rs 1,100 ahead of the just-concluded parliamentary elections.
In 37 Assembly segments across five parliamentary constituencies — Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur in the Doaba region, Khadoor Sahib and Gurdaspur in the Majha region and Anandpur Sahib in the Ropar district — in Punjab, women outperformed men, according to the EC data.
In Jalandhar, women outperformed men in six out of the nine Assembly segments and at all these Congress got the lead, while in Gurdaspur, in all nine Assembly segments where six went to Congress and three to BJP.
In the Hoshiarpur parliamentary constituency, women outperformed men in all nine Assemblies. Here, the Congress got a lead in two, while one each in Khadoor Sahib and Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituencies, where women were ahead in seven and six Assembly segments, respectively.
Out of these 37 Assembly segments, the AAP managed to secure victory in only nine (24 per cent) constituencies. The AAP fared well in five Assembly segments of the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency (total of six) and four in the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency (total of seven), but in the remaining three constituencies with more women voters, they favoured other parties over the ruling AAP, indicating a divergence.
Similarly, the BJP secured leads in six Assembly segments, primarily in the Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur parliamentary constituencies with a large number of BJP supporters, while independent radical preacher Amritpal Singh took leads in six Assembly segments, where more women voted, out of the total seven in the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency.
Punjab recorded a turnout of 63.27 per cent male and 62.28 per cent female in the Lok Sabha elections. According to the EC data, 60.44 per cent of women cast their votes against 59.03 per cent of males in the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency. In Hoshiarpur, 61.60 per cent of women exercised their franchise against 56.31 per cent of men.