Conjugacy class splitting in a prime-index normal subgroup

If $N⊴G$ has prime index $p$, a conjugacy class of $G$ lying in $N$ splits into one or $p$ conjugacy classes of $N$. Conjugation by $G$ acts transitively on these smaller classes, while $N$ fixes every one. This factors through $G/N$, and the orbit-stabilizer theorem makes the number of classes a divisor of $p$.

For an even permutation $g$, its symmetric group class splits into two equal alternating group classes exactly when its symmetric-group centralizer contains no odd permutation. If an odd commuting element exists, an odd conjugator can be multiplied by it to become even; otherwise the index-two subgroup has two conjugation orbits. In cycle notation the splitting types are precisely distinct odd cycle lengths, counting fixed points as length-one cycles: rotating odd cycles is even, whereas an even cycle or the exchange of two equal odd cycles supplies an odd centralizer element.