Chouhan Woos Women Voters

The MP chief minister lavishes female electors with a whole bonanza of women-centric schemes to win their favour and vote

- RAHUL NORONHA

In just about eight months from now, Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be leading the BJP to elections as the incumbent chief minister of Madhya Pradesh—for the fourth time. Even as battle lines are being drawn and the electoral narrative honed, Chouhan has chosen to pivot his election strategy on a tried and tested demographic—the state’s nearly 26 million women voters.

To reiterate his commitment towards imp­ roving their lot, Chouhan has come up with the Ladli Behana Yojana (LBY), a welfare scheme for the state’s women not covered under any of his previous schemes such as the Ladli Laxmi Yojana. Existing schemes are being dovetailed with the larger plan to target women. In the budget announced on March 2, a third of the Rs 3.14 lakh crore allocation went directly to the cohort. Clearly, mama (maternal uncle) is more than ever betting on his bhanjis (nieces) in his fourth election. Will they stand by him in 2023?

The LBY entails a payout of Rs 1,000 a month to women between the ages of 23 and 59, domiciled in MP. When announced initially at the end of January, the CM had included all women above 23 who did not belong to an income tax-paying family, sparking off concerns about the scheme’s financial burden. In the days that followed, the bureaucracy prevailed on Chouhan and introduced a number of filters that have narrowed the beneficiary base. Among these are the ownership of a four-wheeler, including a tractor, by the claimant’s family, employment of a family member in the government and ownership of more than five acres of agricultural land.