Delhi Assembly poll: Parties wooing women as voting turnout rising with every election

With women emerging as a swing factor in election after election, all political parties in Delhi are out to woo the segment.

After the ruling Aam Aadmi Party promised to raise monthly allowance to adult women from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,100, the BJP today pledged Rs 2,500 per month to all women and a one-time financial assistance of Rs 21,000 to pregnant women.

Delhi electoral data analysed by The Tribune reveals that the women voter turnout in the national capital has risen from 49.1 per cent in 1971 to 65.8 per cent in 2024. In the last two General Elections in Delhi, women’s turnout surpassed that of men.

Poll statistics further show that while the percentage of women voters participating in the fifth Assembly election in 1993 was 58.27 per cent, it had risen to 62.51 per cent by the 11th Assembly election in 2020.

Not just that, the number of women casting vote in Delhi elections is rising steadily with the incumbent AAP bagging bulk of the women’s vote in previous polls.

In the 2013 Assembly elections, 34.65 lakh women cast their vote in Delhi as against 43.62 lakh men. The number of women participating in Delhi elections rose to 39.36 lakh in the 2015 poll. In the last 2020 Delhi elections, the number of women voters has surged further to 41.76 lakh.

This explains the race for the women’s vote which earlier swung polls in favour of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra even when pollsters had predicted that the party would lose.

In the current poll cycle, so far only the BJP has released its manifesto and declared welfare schemes for women. The Congress and AAP have made verbal announcements which will find a way into their manifestoes once these are released.

AAP, despite fierce opposition from rivals about perpetrating a freebie and ‘rewdi’ culture, has persisted with what it calls “welfare politics.”

Since it came into power in 2015, AAP has pursued a pro-women governance model as seen in schemes like free electricity up to 200 units, free 20,000 litres water for every household, free travel for women in DTC buses and mohalla clinics.

The model has served the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit well with the party eyeing a third full term.

This political season, with schemes like monthly assistance of Rs 2,100-2,500 for women, Rs 21,000 for pregnant women and LPG cylinder at Rs 500, the BJP hopes to pocket part of the women’s vote.