From higher literacy rate to better nutritional levels to improved access to the internet, men in Delhi are far more privileged in several aspects than their female counterparts. But when it comes to elections, it is the women that feature more prominently in political parties’ poll campaigns.
Cash transfers, free bus rides, pension schemes – politicians are going around making promises offering doles more lucrative than the others to grab the attention of Delhi’s 71,73, 952 women electors.
What all is on offer? What promises were made by politicians in the past? Do such handouts actually affect women’s voting behaviour? What about women's representation within political parties?
We found out.
Subsidies, freebies ‘empower’ women?
Promises of cash transfers to women feature high in the action-packed poll campaigns. After announcing in the 2024-2025 budget that the Delhi government would provide Rs 1,000 per month to every woman above the age of 18, weeks before the elections, the Aam Aadmi Party promised to raise the amount to Rs 2,100 if voted back to power.
The Congress went a step further and promised a monthly financial aid of Rs 2,500 to women if it formed the government, under the proposed ‘Pyaari Didi Yojana.’
On similar lines, the BJP has also announced a cash-to-women assistance programme offering Rs 2,500. In the first part of its manifesto released on Friday, January 17, the party has also promised to provide pregnant women with six nutritional kits and a financial assistance of Rs 21,000. Additionally, it has also announced to increase the pension for widows from Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 among other doles.
While an RBI report has warned that rising expenditure on subsidies, including cash transfers to women, could limit more productive investments, activists are yet to arrive at a consensus on whether such schemes actually empower women or not.
The rich dividends that the governing parties and alliances received in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra for similar schemes rolled out before the assembly polls is what is behind the parties’ fascination with women-centric cash transfer schemes.
While an RBI report has warned that rising expenditure on subsidies, including cash transfers to women, could limit more productive investments, activists are yet to arrive at a consensus on whether such schemes actually empower women or not.
“While freebies doled out for political gains may be harmful, digital bank transfers have benefited women by reducing patriarchal barriers within families,” said Seema Bhaskaran of non-profit Transform Rural India.
Other women activists believe that cash assistance programmes don’t offer long-term solutions. “Women need equal work opportunities and involvement in economic activities, but parties focus only on short-term relief like Rs 2,100 to win votes,” Poonam Kaushik of Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan told Newslaundry. “Everyday goods remain expensive, marginalised workers earn low wages, and workplace harassment is ignored – cash transfers overshadow such issues.”
Social activist and human rights campaigner Shabnam Hashmi echoes Kaushik’s thoughts. “An extra Rs 2,000 in the family means a lot, but this is not a long-term solution. Employment and scholarships are what will truly empower women."
While it is yet to be seen whether the promise of cash assistance can help any party make political gains, it seems to have garnered the attention of several female voters.
After the AAP announced its financial aid to women, for which being a registered voter in Delhi is an important eligibility criteria, the Election Commission said it received an unprecedented number of new voter registrations in the capital. The poll panel added that newly added women voters outnumbered new male voters.
How do women vote?
The special political focus on women is fuelled by women’s growing influence on determining election outcomes.
For instance, experts believe that it was the support of women voters that helped the AAP clinch a decisive victory in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections. A Lokniti-CSDS poll-eve survey found that women were 11 percentage points more likely to vote for the AAP than men.
More women are also increasingly coming out to cast their votes. In fact, the difference between female and male turnout increased from 0.17 in the 2019 elections to 0.23 in the 2024 polls. The female-to-male elector ratio also improved from 91 females per 100 males in 2014 to 95 females per 100 males in 2024.
In Delhi, the difference between male and female turnout is also increasingly reducing. In the 2015 assembly elections the difference between male and female turnout was 1.14 which reduced to 0.14 in the 2020 assembly polls. As of January 6, the number of new male electors stood at 70,873 compared to 96,426 new female electors.
“As seen in the last decade or so, women have their own way of thinking. Earlier their choice depended on who the family was voting for or what the so-called head of the family or the clan decided, but now women are voting according to their own will,” said Hashmi about the steady increase in women voters.
Bhaskar noted that parties have taken cognisance of the impact growing numbers of women voters can have.“The identity as a political actor, with the right to vote, is now more enhanced among women. This enhancement of consciousness among women is also understood by political leaders and political parties,” she said.
Past poll promises
Women have almost always occupied the centrestage in poll campaigns, a look at the promises made by parties in the past shows.
Ahead of the 2020 Delhi assembly polls, the AAP pledged to continue its 'pink ticket' scheme, offering free bus rides to women. Launched in 2019, the scheme reduced transport costs for nearly 75 percent beneficiaries, a Greenpeace report found. The party had also vowed to connect housewives with job and business opportunities, offering access to affordable capital and skills training.
The BJP, too, had promised to launch several women-focused policies and schemes. The party’s flagship scheme assured a total assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the first two girls born in economically weak families till they turn 21. Apart from promising bicycles to girls from EWS families enrolled in Classes 9-12 and electric scooters for women in college, the saffron party had also declared that it would increase the pensions for 1984 anti-Sikh riots widows Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500. For working women, the party promised more women’s hostels, crèches at workplaces, and announced various measures to improve women safety.
The party had also pledged to increase the honorarium for anganwadi workers affiliated with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, ahead of the 2022 elections for the civic body. It also promised to provide state-of-the-art facilities at 130 women’s health and maternity centers apart from announcing a slew of other women-centric measures.
While it failed to secure a single seat in Delhi in 2020, Congress had also tried to woo women voters with a bunch of benefits and allowances. The party promised to provide free education in public institutions to girls from nursery to PhD, and assured free annual health checkups for all women. The party also assured that it would restore the ‘Ladli’ scheme, which had incentivised institutional births, and primary and secondary education among women.
Low women representation in parties
Even as parties leave no stone unturned to lure women votes, they have been reluctant in giving women their due in terms of political representation.
In the fight for Delhi’s 70 assembly seats, political parties fielded a limited number of women candidates in 2020. While Congress gave tickets to 10 women, AAP fielded nine women, and the BJP named only six women among the 67 candidates it fielded.
Five years later, the number of women contesting elections in Delhi still remains low. Of the 70 candidates given tickets by the AAP, only nine contestants are women. Out of 70 candidates, only nine Congress contestants are women, and of 70 candidates, the BJP and its allies have fielded nine women so far.
Activists point out that this unequal representation indicates a superficial commitment among political parties to empower women.
“If political parties are really serious about empowering women, then you would see at least 30 to 50 percent women candidates. Anything lower than this means all their commitment to women issues is just talk,” said Hashmi.
In 2024, of the 8,360 candidates that fought the Lok Sabha elections, only 800 contestants were women. The BJP had fielded 61 women, Congress 41, while the AAP did not give a single ticket to a woman.
Commenting on low women representation, Kaushik said, “Women’s participation in policymaking is low, and parties are doing little to change that…few women are given opportunities to rise within parties.” She also said that parties themselves promote misogynist attitudes. “BJP leaders are known for their patriarchal statements.”
On Wednesday, January 15, BJP leader Ramesh Bidhuri compared Delhi CM and AAP rival from Kalkaji seat, Atishi Singh, to a ‘hirni’ (doe). Last week, he had targeted Atishi for dropping her surname Marlena and using Singh instead, just days after comparing Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s cheeks to roads in Delhi.
Echoing Kaushik, Bhaskaran remarked, “Within the political party ecosystem, there is no gender sensitisation. It is difficult for women to climb the ladder unless they come from a family with a political background.”
Support our NL Sena project on Delhi elections to uncover issues that are usually pushed to the margins by high-octane campaigns.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
