Election Push: BJP, Nitish Woo Women, Elderly Voters

New Delhi:As the Bihar Assembly elections draw near, the battle for the women's vote bank in the poll-bound is heating up.

While the Congress and the RJD have already ramped up their campaigns focusing on women-centric issues, the BJP is now making moves to court this formidable, caste-neutral constituency — the women voters.

The BJP Mahila Morcha will be launching a mega outreach programme in the first week of August to woo women voters.

The BJP believes that women voters will play a crucial and decisive role in year-end Assembly polls, as they constitute nearly half of the total electorate of the state and their participation in the electoral process has increased over a period of time.

The ruling and the Opposition alliances' bid to win over the women voters in the state is rooted in the fact that in the last Lok Sabha elections, women outpaced men in voter turnout, with 59 per cent of women casting their ballots compared to 53 per cent of men. Not to be outdone by the Congress-RJD campaign focused on women's issues, nearly 300 BJP Mahila Morcha leaders and functionaries from across the country will be paradropped to reach out to the women voters.

BJP Mahila Morcha president Vanathi Srinivasan told this newspaper that 300 “pravasi” women workers along with the state unit workers will reach out to women voters across Bihar and explain the work done for their empowerment by the Narendra Modi government in the last 11 years.

Notably, women voters form nearly 48 per cent of the state's total electorate and in last year's Lok Sabha polls, women voters participation surpassed men's turnout. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the average voters' turnout in Bihar was 56.28 per cent, while men's participation stood at 53 per cent and women's turnout was recorded at 59.45 per cent.

As per the plan, Ms Srinivasan said that 300 women workers from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam will be deputed in Bihar from the first week of August and work in coordination with the state unit with a sole objective to reach out to the women voters, highlighting the Modi government’s work which made their lives better.

According to Ms Srinivasan, the pravasi women leaders will brief the Bihar women wing leaders about the different programmes of the NDA government at the Centre and state.

“Further, these pravasi leaders and local women BJP leaders will spread awareness about government welfare schemes for women and facilitate dialogue, particularly in rural and remote areas. We will try to explain to the women voters about the impact of Modi government schemes in their lives through small and big meetings,” the BJP Mahila Morcha president said.

The BJP Mahila Morcha is planning to appoint one national office bearer as in-charge of one district of Bihar. These in-charges will spend nearly two months in the state working for the party and reaching out to women before the Assembly polls in October-November.