"Sabse Bada Rupaiya" in Maharashtra and Jharkhand! Women-focused schemes key to win polls

It's NDA in Maharashtra and INDIA in Jharkhand. From Maiya Samman Yojana to Ladki Bahin Yojana - people vote for money schemes in both elections. It would be a hard pill to digest if someone says no to this.

The much-debated topic of Rewri vs Welfare schemes again came to highlight where the JMM boss and Jharkhand Chief Minister managed to win a historic second term despite an alleged attempt from the BJP to polarize the voters.

However, it seems like the issues of intrusion, demographic change, and jail time for Hemant Soren had little effect on voters' minds and they still went with the party with strong ground connections and also the one giving out Maiya Samman - a scheme in which was launched on August 3, offering Rs 1,000 monthly to women, which was boosted to Rs 2,500 in the run-up to the election.

Coming to Maharashtra, a tussle for name and heritage goes south for Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray. Both lost their party's section, and name and were hoping to ride the emotional wave but the people of Maharashtra didn't give this much attention.

However, the Mahayuti government's women's welfare scheme also came into play in this election with the tried and tested Ladki Bahin Yojana, which proved successful in Madhya Pradesh, the scheme gives Rs 1,500 in direct cash transfers to women heads of households, with a pre-election promise to increase this to Rs 2,100.

Apart from these two schemes, there were other grants as well including - Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana, Free bicycles for school-going girls, etc which played a pivotal role in deciding the next 5 years of these two states. The opposition also promised similar schemes, however, voters went with the party who is already filling up the bank accounts. 

In true means - "The Whole Thing Is That Ki Bhaiya...Sabse Bada Rupaiya". The long-term implications of this could be far-reaching. What this effectively means is that women are now effectively a vote-block in their own right. It also means that political parties will be ideologically agnostic about handing out freebies in the name of women's empowerment. Given the right incentive -- and this is important because it speaks to women directly -- political parties have realized that this huge chunk of voters has the potential to swing local, state, and even national elections its way.

With next elections are slated for Delhi, a place where the AAP government has already been running such schemes with free travel for women, free electricity, etc. What will the future hold for Arvind Kejriwal? Will he be able to pull a miraculous victory like Hemant Soren or will he crumble like the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) only time and perhaps the women of Delhi will tell.