New Delhi: In the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections, financial assistance and aid to women voters turned out to be a rallying point, which all political parties, from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Opposition including BJP and Congress tried to exploit to woo them for winning the elections.
AAP supremo announced the Mahila Samman Yojana, under which a Rs 1,000 monthly allowance was to be provided to the women members of poor families and also promised to hike this amount to Rs 2,100 if the AAP was voted to power again.
BJP and Congress were quick to announce similar schemes for women in their respective manifestoes, promising Rs 2,500 monthly assistance under the Mahila Samridhi scheme and Pyari Didi Yojana respectively.
However, it was the BJP’s poll promise backed by ‘Modi ki guarantee’ that resonated with the women electorate on the ground, prompting them to jettison the AAP and rally behind the party in the Delhi elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated from many platforms that all the ‘freebies’ being availed by Delhiites will be continued under the BJP government and it will go a step ahead in making their lives easier by providing clean water, pucca houses to slum dwellers and more.
On the other hand, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal stated multiple times, apparently to warn the voters, that if BJP comes to power in the capital, all their ‘revdis’ will be cancelled.
The open enticement of women voters, youth, slum-dwellers and more was for everyone to see. However, the people of Delhi believed in the ‘Modi ki guarantee’. A ‘silent revolution’ worked in BJP’s favour, feel political watchers, though much of it was also gauged by the polling agencies.
Notably, more than 46 per cent of Delhi’s registered voters i.e. around 71 lakh are women.
In the 2020 elections, the AAP was understood to have swept nearly 60 per cent of women’s votes while BJP managed to get only 35 per cent.
In the 2025 polls, however, the tables turned with women voters flocking to the BJP. The party also announced a slew of promises, including Rs 2,500 aid for women, and Rs 21,000 assistance for pregnant women. It also announced free gas cylinders during Holi and Diwali.
While announcing monthly aid for women, the AAP chief had blamed the Modi government for blocking and stalling the scheme. It said that the Centre conspired and sent him to jail, thereby affecting the steady honorarium to women of the city.
AAP chief’s charges didn’t cut ice with women voters, as they voted in large numbers for BJP, as is evident in the election results.
(IANS)
