Bihar Election Result: During the two-phase voting, 71.78 percent women reached the polling stations, while the participation of men was only 62.98 percent.
The Nitish Kumar government’s ten thousand rupees guarantee played a key role in the NDA’s landslide victory in the Bihar Assembly elections. Under the Bihar government’s Chief Minister Women’s Employment Scheme, more than one crore women received ten thousand rupees in their accounts.
This announcement overshadowed all other issues in the state, and the opposition was unable to counter it. During the election campaign, the opposition even launched a verbal attack on the government over this amount, claiming that the government would have to return this amount after forming the government.
In response, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar claimed at every election rally that the opposition was spreading false propaganda. There was no need to return the money. Believing the Chief Minister’s statement, the women gave the NDA their full support, leading to its biggest victory since 2010.
Thanks to this issue, the NDA was also successful in opening its account in Kaimur, Arwal, Rohtas, Buxar and Aurangabad districts, whereas in the 2020 assembly elections, the Grand Alliance had MLAs in these districts.
Earlier, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar provided financial assistance to ASHA workers and Jeevika Didis (women from self-help groups) by increasing their honorarium, providing free electricity (125 units per household), and increasing their pensions. The NDA also benefited from the ongoing prohibition, 35 percent reservation in police recruitment, and 50 percent reservation for women in autonomous bodies. The impact of all these schemes was visible in the elections.
Santosh Jha, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Delhi University, says that the 8.8 percent increase in women’s voter turnout and welfare schemes targeted towards them changed the electoral equation. According to a report, approximately 35 million women voters in Bihar are women, and their voting participation has been steadily increasing over several elections. The NDA has not viewed women solely as a caste-based vote bank, but has instead promoted women’s identity as a new and strong vote bank.
The ‘Women Factor’ has been seen in many states.
Before Bihar, this phenomenon has also been seen in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand. Before the last elections, the impact of financial assistance provided under the ‘Majhi Mulgi Behan Yojana’ (My Sister Scheme) in Maharashtra, Chief Minister’s ‘Laadli Behna Yojana’ in Madhya Pradesh and ‘Maiyaan Samman Yojana’ in Jharkhand was visible in the election results.
With the help of these schemes, the ruling party not only managed to neutralize the anti-government wave in the state but also increased its victory margin. Meanwhile, in Delhi, the failure to implement the scheme even after its announcement proved detrimental to the government.
About a year before the elections, the then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced the Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, promising to give 1,000 rupees to women. However, women did not receive the benefit until the elections were announced. Just before the elections, BJP leader and current minister Pravesh Verma distributed 1,100 rupees each to women through an NGO, which benefited the BJP in the Delhi elections. However, in the 2020 assembly elections, the impact of the Aam Aadmi Party’s 200 units of free electricity and free bus travel by the Aam Aadmi Party was visible.
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