The 2024 Lok Sabha elections saw the return of the NDA government at the Centre, although with a major hit to its tally of seats, while the INDIA bloc formed a sizable Opposition in Parliament, as compared to past years. The NDA, somewhat bruised at the 2024 general elections, fought its way back through crucial Assembly election victories towards the end of the year, which allowed Modi & co to breathe a bit easier.
India, the world’s largest democracy, has seen a rise in the participation of women voters in the elections at both the national and state levels over the years. In 2024, women outshone men in terms of turnout during Lok Sabha election, clocking a polling percentage of 65.8 as against 65.6 for their male counterparts. This is the second time in the history of general elections that women turnout surpassed male participation.
The 17th Lok Sabha, elected in 2019, was a significant milestone for the country, as women narrowed the gender gap by exceeding male turnout. With women constituting a big chunk of active voters, the 2019 election made political parties sit up and take notice.
Lok Sabha polls 2024
In 2024, the tough electoral fight for 543 seats saw the NDA rallying behind the ‘Abki baar, 400 par’ call, while the Opposition formed a strong front under the aegis of the INDIA bloc. The results markedly contradicted the exit poll findings, as the BJP clinched 240 seats — significantly lower than its 2019 count of 303 seats and the 2024 target of 400. As an alliance, the NDA bagged 293 seats, while the INDIA bloc had 234 to its name, with Congress winning 99 seats on its own.
Even as the NDA and BJP saw substantial losses at the Lok Sabha polls, Madhya Pradesh turned out to be the saffron party’s biggest asset, with no breathing space left for Congress as BJP bagged all 29 seats in the state. The landslide victory has been largely credited to the state’s Ladli Behna Yojana, which is a Rs 1,000 financial assistance scheme for women. Shivraj Singh Chouhan — the face of the scheme and the ‘loving mama’ to women of the state — was instrumental in the BJP landslide. The Ladli Behna Yojana proved decisive in the state’s Assembly elections as well, with the saffron party having comfortably kept Congress out of power.
According to a report by Down to Earth, 78.2% of women cast their votes — 2.2% more than in the previous assembly elections. Additionally, in the BJP’s 48.6% vote share, 12.5 million women voters played a huge role, many of them beneficiaries of the Ladli Behna Yojana.
Assembly elections: Maharashtra & Jharkhand
Women voters remained a deciding factor for both INDIA bloc and NDA in the recent Maharashtra and Jharkhand state polls as well, swaying the results in a big way. While there were several other factors at play, women undoubtedly had a major role in deciding the winners in each of these states.
In Maharashtra, the ruling Shinde faction of Shiv Sena took a leaf out of BJP’s Madhya Pradesh book and launched the Ladki Bahin Yojana ahead of the assembly polls, providing Rs 1,500 per month to women from families with annual income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh. Chief Minister Shinde later increased this amount to Rs 2,100 and further announced plans to recruit 25,000 women police officers.
Despite a narrow 0.4 per cent margin between the ruling Mahayuti and opposition MVA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led coalition secured a historic number of seats at the assembly polls. Many leaders, including CPI(M) leader Ashok Dhawale, attributed the MVA’s defeat to initiatives like the Ladki Bahin scheme and construction worker programmes implemented by the Mahayuti government following the Lok Sabha results.
Similarly in Jharkhand, the Hemant Soren-headed incumbent government pre-emptively launched the ‘Maiya Samman scheme’ in August, offering Rs 1,000 monthly to women aged 21-50 years, likely benefiting five million women statewide, which appeared to tilt the eventual outcome in favour of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). In Jharkhand’s Assembly elections, women voters exceeded men across both phases, with higher female turnout in 68 out of 81 constituencies. From 2.61 crore registered voters, including 1.29 crore women, over 1.76 crore voted. As per Election Commission data, women voters numbered 91.16 lakh, surpassing male turnout by 5.52 lakh votes.
A similar pattern emerging in Delhi?
In the national capital, the ruling AAP has already announced free aid for women. In its 2024-25 budget, the Delhi government had announced this scheme to provide Rs 1,000 per month to all women aged above 18. While there has been some back-and-forth on the matter between the Centre and AAP, Kejriwal recently announced that the amount would be raised to Rs 2,100 if his party returns to power in the assembly elections, slated for February 2025.
Going by latest indications, the BJP also hopes to replicate the success of its Madhya Pradesh template in Delhi. The party’s Delhi unit has sent urgent feelers to the central leadership to allow it to announce a cash transfer scheme for women and the continuation of free electricity and water plans in the city.
BJP’s Delhi functionaries believe such promises are crucial to counter AAP, which has already unveiled a cash transfer initiative through the Mahila Samman scheme, ToI reported quoting sources.
