MUMBAI: After the recent setback in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the ruling Mahayuti consisting of Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Ajit Pawar, is eyeing women voters to improve its performance in forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly Elections as it introduced the 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Scheme' in the Budget on Friday, under which Rs 1,500 will be transferred into the bank accounts of eligible women in the age group of 21 to 60 every month beginning July 1. The scheme is expected to cost the Maharashtra government Rs 46,000 crore. Since it is the last budget before the polls, the Mahayuti alliance introduced an array of sops for different sections of society. 

But the specific emphasis on women voters is considered a game changer since their voter turnout has risen significantly and according to the Election Commission of India’s statistics, in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, male voters (65.80%) were almost equal to had a female voters (65.78%) turnout, making them a sought after group for political parties. In the 2021-22 state budget, the government announced a 1% stamp duty concession for women if the property was registered in their name.

Notably, this is not the first time that the Shinde government is looking at implementing welfare schemes targeted at women voters. It introduced the Lek Ladki scheme in the state budget in 2023 It was aimed at encouraging families with yellow and orange ration cards, to educate their daughters providing Rs 98,000 for the girls to be released in different phases starting from birth until they turned 18 and had also announced a 50% travel concession for women on state transport buses.

Largely considered as the idea of former MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan the ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’ as it was called in MP is a scheme launched by the MP government in January 2023, to promote the welfare of the state’s women under which women are provided with financial assistance to help them become financially independent, and they receive a monthly transfer of Rs. 1,250 to their bank accounts on the 10th of every month.  within months over 1.3 crore women enrolled in the scheme.