WHAT WOMEN WANT

While political parties give them schemes and promises based on their gendered roles, women across the country tell INDIA TODAY what they really expect-jobs, education, development-the same things that men desire

- Rohit Parihar, Jeemon Jacob, Amitabh Srivastava, Dhaval S. Kulkarni, Sonal Khetarpal, Ajay Sukumaran

Mansi Choudhary, 18 Jaipur, Student 
Aaditi Choudhary, 39 Jaipur, Mansi’s mum, helps run family business 
Mohini Devi, 58 Sikar, Rajasthan Mansi’s grandmother, homemaker

Constituencies: Jaipur and Sikar

Issues that will decide their votes: All-round better environment— at schools, for businesses or in villages

Demands from the govt: Ensure harmony among people

A 3-Generation View

April 19 was the first time 18-year-old Mansi voted in an election. Coming from a family divided in its loyalties between the BJP and the Congress, the first-year student opted to exercise her own choice, but since the candidate of the party she wanted to vote for was not good in her estimation, for a moment she contemplated pressing NOTA on the electronic voting machine. What she did eventually, she did not disclose.

Her mum Aaditi was just 15 years old and in Class 10 when she got married in Trilokpura village in Sikar. She joined her husband in Jaipur after completing Class 12, and went on to complete her graduation, post-graduation in political science, degree in journalism and a PG diploma in finance and banking. Aaditi now runs a firm offering consultancy and services for trademarks and registration of societies. She is staunchly against communal divide, and says no party has done anything effective for women. Her vote, she says, will go to a party that offers a conducive environment for everyone to grow and live in harmony.