Ahead of the 2014 general election, a popular brand initiated a ‘Power of 49’ campaign aimed at amplifying the concerns of women voters – women comprising approximately 49% of India’s population. Seven years later as another election cycle takes off, there is growing evidence to suggest that it’s not just caste and religious vote-banks in the mix this time. Every party is courting the woman voter more actively than ever before.
Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is campaigning in UP with the slogan, ‘Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon’ (I am a girl and I can fight), and has paromised that as many as 40% party tickets there will be given to women. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has promised a Rs 1,000 monthly allowance to women above 18 in Punjab and also promised to increase financial assistance to women in Goa. TMC has gone even further than AAP and announced a Griha Laxmi scheme in Goa, pledging to transfer Rs 5,000 to all women every month. BJP already claims that many of its schemes like Ujjwala have greatly benefitted women.
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