Women voters played a key role in Maharashtra outcome. What issues did they prioritise?

When Maharashtra went to the polls on November 20, both the ruling and opposition alliances had promised pro-women policies. The numbers made it clear that women would play a pivotal role in shaping the outcome. Of the 9.7 crore voters registered in the state, 4.6 crore were women.

On polling day, it was obvious that women were determined to make their voices heard. In 15 of Maharashtra’s 288 assembly constituencies, women voters outnumbered men. Of the total number of women registered to vote, 65% had turned out to press the button. This was only 1.6 percentage points lower than the 66.84% figure of the number of registered male voters who came out to vote.

After the victory of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the elections, many observers claimed that a key factor in the result was the introduction of the Ladki Bahin cash transfer scheme under which women with an annual family income of up to Rs 2.5 lakh receive Rs 1,500 per month.

But was that uppermost in the minds of women voters?

Looking at a pre-poll survey by Delhi University’s Centre for Global Studies, data from five of the state’s 36 districts where more women were registered to vote than men suggests that it was...

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