ISLAMABAD: The ratio of women voters has improved for the first time in the country’s recent history, though in terms of numbers the gap between male and female voters has widened to 12.65 million.

As the number of voters crosses the 100m mark to reach 104.26m, the percentage of male and female voters stands at 56.07 per cent and 43.92pc, respectively. The number of male and female voters, according to the latest figures, comes to 58.46m and 45.80m, respectively.

According to the electoral rolls of September 2017, of the 97.02m citizens registered as voters, 54.60m were men (56.27pc) and 42.42m were women (43.73pc). That means the percentage of male voters has dropped from 56.27pc to 56.07pc and that of female voters has increased from 43.73pc to 43.92pc.

In terms of number, the gap between male and female voters, which now stands at 12.65m, was 12.17m in September last year and 10.97m in March 2013.

There were 86.25m registered voters in the 2013 general elections — 56.4pc men and 43.6pc women.

According to voter registration data released by the ECP in September 2015, ahead of local government polls, there were 93.07m voters in the electoral rolls — 52.36m men and 40.7m women — a difference of 11.65m.

In 2002, the voters’ ratio was 86 women per 100 men. In 2008, the ratio decreased to 79 women per 100 men. In 2013, it further decreased to 77 women per 100 men.

According to the statistics of preliminary electoral rolls 2018, the total number of voters in Punjab stands at 59.74m — 33.29m male and 26.44m female voters.

In Sindh, the number of voters is 22.06m, including 12.27m male and 9.79m female voters.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the number of voters is 15.23m — 8.69m male and 6.54m women voters. Balochistan has a total of 4.19m voters out of which 2.42m are male and 1.76 female voters. The number of voters in Fata is 2.29m, including 1.38m male and 0.910m female voters.

In federal capital, the total number of voters is 0.730m, including 0.389m male and 0.341m female voters.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2018