Manali: While most constituencies of Himachal are dominated by male voters, all constituencies in Hamirpur district and that of Lahaul-Spiti have a majority of women voter constituents who will decide the fate of the contestants.
If service electors are not counted, the only constituency of Lahaul-Spiti has 11,447 female and 11,402 male electors; Bhoraj constituency of Hamirpur has 38,335 women and 36,121 men electors; Sujanpur constituency from where former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is contesting has 34,557 women and 32,310 men electors; Hamirpur assembly constituency has 34,289 women and 33,935 men electors; Barsar has 40,612 women and 38,509 men electors; and there are 42,868 women and 41,180 men who will decide the fate of contestants in Nadaun constituency.
A total of 1,90,661 women and 1,83,055 men from Hamirpur district will use their franchise on November 9. The district has 11,731 service electors as well. According to 2011 census, Hamirpur had a population of 4,54,768. While the district had 2,17,070 males, the number of females is 2,37,698, about 20,000 more than the males.
Lahaul-Spiti district has population of 31,528 which includes 15,073 females. A large number of population of this tribal district lives in Kullu district. Many electors from the district migrates to Kullu to spend winters. The migration starts in November before all road links to the district are blocked by snowfall. The women play an important role in deciding victory or loss of any candidate. However, no women has won any assembly poll after 1972 when Lata Thakur, mother of current MLA Ravi Thakur, was the MLA from this constituency.
Sanjay Dutta, an engineer by qualification but is a journalist by choice.
He has worked for the premier new agency Press Trust of India and leading English daily Indian Express.
With more than a decade of experience, he has been highlighting issues related to environment, tourism and other aspects affecting mountain ecology.
Sanjay Dutta lives in a village close to Manali in Kullu valley of Himachal.
