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In the game of chess, a Queen’s Gambit is an opening move that may demand a certain material sacrifice but surely secures control over the game. Elections are no different from chess in terms of the political moves and strategies.
India’s women voters now act as the Queen’s Gambit, so much so that a party like the BJP, which has always opposed freebies, has come with financial assistance for women voters in Chhattisgarh for the first time. The reason is nothing but the numbers. As the women voter base rises, the political parties realign their policies.
In all his political speeches, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel mentioned the state’s revered mother figure, ‘Mahtari’. Releasing his party’s election manifesto, he announced a scheme for women, the Mahtari Nyay Yojana, under which women from all income groups will get a Rs 500 subsidy for cooking gas. In addition, he also promised a loan waiver for the women’s self-help groups and a similar relief scheme, like a loan waiver for farmers.
Even as the Congress did everything to woo women voters, the BJP was not behind. The party, as part of its poll promise, announced the ‘Mahtari Vandan Scheme’ through which married women in the state will get an annual allowance of Rs 12,000.
Laxmi Bhandar, Gruha Lakshmi, Mahtari: Rise of women voters
Significantly, the election results of West Bengal in 2021 and Karnataka in 2023 show how women voters played a key role in determining polls. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement for a financial assistance of Rs 500 to all women voters, called ‘Laxmi Bhandar’, brought the party a landslide victory in the state.
A similar pattern was noticed in Karnataka as the Congress, in its manifesto, announced financial assistance for women and called it ‘Gruha Lakshmi’. The promised financial assistance was, however, four times bigger than what Banerjee announced in Bengal.
Post Karnataka elections, Congress made the financial assistance scheme for women voters part of its election strategy and announced similar schemes in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. However, this is the first time when BJP’s central leadership also included financial assistance for women in its manifesto.
The party announced Rs 12,000 for married women voters as an annual allowance. The scheme has been announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Chhattisgarh and has made it to the BJP manifesto in the state.
A senior BJP leader in the state told News18 that former chief minister Raman Singh actively pitched for a woman-centric financial assistance scheme. He, in the party meetings, said the manifesto must include a scheme like ‘Ladli Behena’ of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan. Shah announced the scheme and named it ‘Mahtari Vandan Scheme’.
The Queen’s Gambit
Apart from paddy procurement price, the next most significant factor has been women voters in Chhattisgarh for this year’s election.
Starting from issues related to a proposed liquor ban to special financial assistance, Congress and BJP have been competing with each other to woo women who almost outnumber the male voters in multiple constituencies.
According to the Election Commission data, the number of women voters stands at 1,02,39,410, while the count for male voters is 1,01,20,040 . Women voters have trumped the male voters by over a lakh in numbers.
A senior Congress leader said, “In a state like Chhattisgarh, where Mahtari, the mother figure, is worshipped by all, women voters are actually the mainstay for any party. In the first phase, women voters dominated the male voters in 16 of 20 constituencies. In the second phase, the women voters have an upper hand in over 60 to 65 constituencies out of 70 seats. So, in such a tightly fought election, women voters play a key role.”
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