How woman power in Bihar helped NDA win the elections

New Delhi, Nov 11: This year there were 119 assembly constituencies in Bihar which had a higher number of women voters. This was because the number of women voters turning up at the polling booths was higher compared to the men in the 118 constituencies.

This year, the woman turn out in Bihar was 59.9 per cent as opposes to the 54.7 of the men who voted. The large turnout of women appears to have helped the NDA win the elections. The NDA performed best in the second and third phase where the women turn was higher.

In the first phase, with just 54.4 per cent of the women turning up, the NDA took a beating. However the alliance performed well in the second and third phase where the women turnout was 58.8 and 65.5 per cent respectively.

The woman factor has been in play for the NDA since 2010 thanks to schemes like free bicycles among school going girls and reservation for women in panchayats. Nitish Kumar had in fact earned a lot of good will thanks to measures such as promotion of self-help groups on a very large scale.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's schemes such as Ujjawala and Swacch Bharat also proved to be a decisive factor and led to the high turn of women at the polling booths. PM Modi during the campaign had listed out several schemes including providing electricity, tap water and welfare measures launched in the wake of the pandemic. He also spoke about free provision of ration and cash transfer into the Jan Dhan scheme.

The PM had also earlier announced that the free foodgrain scheme would continue until Chhath which is the biggest festival in Bihar. Following the election, PM Modi lauded the women for their participation in the election.

"Bihar's villages, poor, youth, elderly, workers, shopkeepers have all kept faith with the NDA's 'sabka saath, sabka vishwas' mantra," the PM said in a tweet. He further mentioned the women voters in Bihar apart from also thanking the youth.