  In this paper, we have made a statistical analysis of solar H$\alpha$ flares
that occurred during the period 1996 to 2005 to investigate their spatial
distribution with respect to northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun. The
analysis includes a total of 21608 single events. The study shows a significant
N$-$S asymmetry which is persistent with the evolution of the solar cycle. The
flare activity favors the northern hemisphere in general during the rising and
maximum phase of the solar cycle (i.e., in 1997, 1999, and 2000), while the
declining phase (i.e., from 2001 to 2005) shows a southern dominance. Further,
the monthly N$-$S asymmetry index for flares, sunspot numbers and sunspot areas
suggests similar variations for these phenomena with the progress of solar
cycle. We also find that in terms of asymmetric behavior of solar flares, cycle
23 seems to act quite differently from cycle 22 but comparably to cycle 21.
