Kohima , Jan 11, 2025, IANS

Kohima, Jan 11 (IANS) Nagaland has become the fifth northeastern state after Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh where women voters outnumber men in the electoral rolls and the gender ratio is much higher than the national average, officials said here on Saturday. A senior election official said that 6,72,395 women general voters outnumbered 6,65,489 male voters in Nagaland’s final electoral rolls, published on Friday after a special summary revision of the photo electoral rolls with January 1, 2025, as the qualifying date. The official said with the inclusion of 7,310 service voters (7,196 male and 114 female), the total number of voters in the northeastern state increased to 13,45,197, including three third-gender voters. Against the national gender ratio of 948, the gender ratio in the electoral rolls of Nagaland is 1,010, the official said. Compared to the draft electoral rolls, published on October 29 last year, 13,642 voters (1.02 per cent increase) were added to the final rolls. Women voters also outnumber men in the electoral rolls of Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh. The gender ratio in the electoral rolls of Manipur is 1,070, followed by 1,066 in Mizoram, 1,037 in Arunachal Pradesh, and 1,028 in Meghalaya. In Christian-dominated Nagaland, men controlled all aspects of the society including governance. However, in the last Assembly elections, held on February 27, 2023, for the first time in Nagaland's electoral history, two women -- Salhoutuonuo Kruse (Western Angami) and Hekani Jakhalu (Dimapur-III), were elected to the 60-member house. Both the winning women candidates belong to the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), which dominates the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) government in the opposition-less Assembly. With 12 members, the Bharatiya Janata Party is one of the constituents of the UDA government headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio.