How women voters changed the game in favour of the incumbent in Maharashtra and Jharkhand

The Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand showcased the ability of ladies voters, driven by targeted welfare schemes like Maharashtra’s Ladki Bahin Yojana and Jharkhand’s Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana. These initiatives boosted female voter turnout significantly, helping the ruling Mahayuti and JMM-led alliances secure decisive victories

read more

Females queue to cast their votes at a polling station worldwide the Maharashtra state elections, in Mumbai, India, November 20, 2024. File Image/Reuters

Females voters have emerged as the decisive force in Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, steering the ruling alliances — Mahayuti and JMM-led INDIA bloc — towards resounding victories.

Both governments leveraged targeted welfare schemes specializing in financial aid for girls, transforming them into powerful vote magnets.

How females voters changed the game in Maharashtra

Maharashtra witnessed an exceptional electoral performance by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which clinched over two-thirds of the Assembly seats. Central to this triumph became the Ladki Bahin Yojana, an instantaneous cash transfer scheme introduced in July.

The scheme promised ₹1,five hundred per 30 days to females from families earning lower than ₹2.5 lakh every year, later increased to ₹2,100 just earlier than the elections. This initiative targeted over 2.three crore females, aiming to address their financial needs right away.

Also Read | Eknath Shinde, Fadnavis, Hemant Soren… Big winners and losers of Maharashtra, Jharkhand elections

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis credited the scheme for galvanising females voters:
“The feedback suggests females voters turned out in greater numbers to reinforce us on account of Ladki Bahin,” he stated.

Statistics corroborate this claim. Females’s voter turnout surged from fifty 9.26 per cent in 2019 to sixty five.21 per cent now, with three.06 crore females collaborating — a unparalleled enlarge of fifty two lakh votes. Districts like Pune, Thane, Nashik, Solapur, and Nagpur, which recorded the fitting collection of beneficiaries, saw females’s vote casting percentages upward push by over 6 percentage points.

Despite the Mahayuti’s landslide, critics like NCP leader Supriya Sule brushed aside the scheme as an electoral gimmick: “Females want minimum reinforce prices for their produce, no longer cash handouts,” she argued.

How females voters in Jharkhand backed Hemant Soren’s promises

In Jharkhand, Chief Minister Hemant Soren overcame anti-incumbency and corruption allegations, partly on account of Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana, which provided ₹1,000 monthly to females aged 18-50 years. The scheme benefited around 5 million females, with a promise to enlarge the payout to ₹2,five hundred by December 2024.

The strategy paid off, with females outnumbering men in voter turnout in eighty five per cent of the constituencies. On sixty eight out of eighty one seats, females’s turnout exceeded that of guys.

Also Read | What next for Uddhav Thackeray after Maharashtra setback?

The overall female turnout jumped from 67 per cent in 2019 to over 70 per cent in 2024. Electoral Commission data further revealed that of the 1.76 crore voters who participated, ninety one.16 lakh were females, surpassing male turnout by 5.fifty two lakh votes.

Females as the emblem new electoral powerhouse

The Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand reflected a bigger trend—females voters are increasingly turning into a pivotal electoral bloc. Over the past decade, political parties have intensified efforts to attract females by launching schemes that right away address their financial and social needs. The Ladki Bahin and Maiya Samman schemes epitomize this approach.

The BJP’s earlier success with the Ladli Behna Yojana in Madhya Pradesh set the template. Implemented under former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, it provided ₹1,000 to females and helped the BJP retain power despite stiff competition from the Congress.

Electoral analysts have noted a narrowing gender gap in voter turnout across states. Let's say, Maharashtra’s elections saw a near parity in male and female turnout, while Jharkhand witnessed females voters outpacing men in most constituencies.

Also Read | No more Pawar play? Is Sharad Pawar losing his grip on Maharashtra politics?

CPI(M) leader Ashok Dhawale told PTI, “After the Lok Sabha elections, schemes like Ladki Bahin Yojana and programmes for construction workers swayed voter sentiment, in particular among females.”

While these schemes have proven electorally really useful, questions regarding their sustainability persist. A Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report cautioned:
“The federal government should display screen and handle its debt levels to substantiate long-term fiscal stability by adopting remedial measures to rationalise expenditure, explore further revenue sources, and put money into revenue-generating assets.”

Additionally, the contrasting ends in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in both states have put a spotlight on the nuanced priorities of voters. While Mahayuti dominated Maharashtra’s Assembly polls after losing ground within the 2024 Lok Sabha elections just months ago, the INDIA bloc reversed its Lok Sabha losses in Jharkhand to secure a decisive Assembly victory.

With inputs from agencies