Women have traditionally voted Congress in Madhya Pradesh; Laadli Behna changed that
Photo: @OfficeofSSC / X The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned back to power in Madhya Pradesh on December 3, 2023. And it had one landmark social welfare scheme to thank: Laadli Behna (‘Beloved Sister’ in Hindi.)
The party had released its election manifesto for the assembly elections just six days before the polls on November 11. But it had already unleashed its election-winner eight months prior.
Incumbent Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced on March 7 (two days after his birthday) that the state government would give an amount of Rs 1,000 to women every month. This amount was later increased to Rs 1,250.
The scheme, intended as a sop for women voters aged 23-60 years in an election year, was implemented at breakneck speed. The amount was disbursed to the accounts of approximately 12.5 million women in the state through direct benefit transfer within three months of the scheme’s announcement. Women were receiving Rs 1,250 as late as 10 days before the poll.
Chouhan himself contributed to the popularisation blitz for the scheme, advertising it through his poll speeches, social media accounts and through banners and hoardings. He was able to convince women voters that the amount would be increased to Rs 3,000.
“Women have been key to the BJP’s victory this time. They are responsible for the party’s increase in vote share. Inaugurating Laadli Behna months before the election has paid us rich dividends,” Mohan Rajak, head of the BJP Kisan Morcha in the state’s Chhattarpur district, told Down To Earth (DTE).
He added that the Laadli Lakshmi scheme as well as the party’s promise of wages to women working in Anganwadis also helped sway women voters in the BJP’s favour.
Women have traditionally voted Congress in Madhya Pradesh, according to Rajak. But Laadli Behna changed that. In the state’s rural areas, women voted BJP in spite of their husbands telling them not to.
Rajak also credited the BJP’s announcement of giving liquified petroleum gas cylinders for Rs 500 each as helping the party attract women away from the Congress.
Roli Shivhare, state coordinator of Association for Democratic Reform, agreed that the scheme was wholly responsible for the BJP win. It caused the defeat of even the most powerful Congress candidates.
“The BJP was successful in building the narrative that the scheme would be stopped if the Congress came to power. Issues like unemployment, inflation and even religion did not matter this time. Laadli Behna found favour with both rural and urban voters,” Shivhare told DTE.
The Congress too had promised to give women voters Rs 1,500 monthly. But they went with Chouhan and the BJP.
Shivhare added that Chouhan also unleashed another secret weapon through his ‘CM Interns’, youth who went from house-to-house and popularised the scheme further.
Both, Rajak and Shivhare believe that voters voted for the Lotus symbol of the BJP rather than the individual candidates in each constituency.
Some 78.2 per cent women voted in the Madhya Pradesh election which is 2.2 per cent more than female participation in the last Assembly poll. The BJP has won 48.6 per cent of the vote this time, of which 12.5 million have been women, most of them beneficiaries of Laadli Behna.
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