Monetary benefits fuel Nari Shakti to deliver poll victories in Bihar

New Delhi: The impact of NDA government's pre-poll move - to transfer ₹10,000 each to women voters - in the Bihar election result signifies the emergence and assertion of female voters as a key electoral group, as the same ploy has worked in over 10 state assembly polls in the last four years.

With more women becoming educated and empowered, their voting percentage has been higher compared to men in two-thirds of state elections in the last few years.

Women, as a vote base, have been cultivated by JDU chief and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar over the years. Distributing cycles, quota in panchayats, banning liquor and the recent cash transfer have largely helped him retain power for more than two decades in a "politically hyperactive" state.


In the crucial 2017 UP assembly polls, BJP also reaped benefits from a similar move with its Ujjwala Scheme, giving free LPG cylinders to women in rural areas.

In 2021 assembly polls, Trinamool supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee promised cash transfers to women and eventually won, despite BJP's inroads and anti-incumbency against her government.

In 2023 Karnataka polls, Congress won handsomely as the party promised free bus rides and other benefits for women. A similar move helped it to swing women votes in its favour in the 2022 Himachal polls. In 2023, BJP caught onto this phenomenon and started direct cash transfer to women in Madhya Pradesh and won elections even after being in power for two decades. A similar promise in Chhattisgarh helped its case. With an eye on women voters in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Modi government in October 2023 passed the Women's Reservation Bill. But after a slight setback in 2024 LS polls, BJP again opted for this strategy in Maharashtra, promised higher cash amount to women in Haryana and won both states

Similar direct cash transfer scheme also helped JMM in Jharkhand.