Madhya Pradesh CM’s ‘Ladli Bahana Yojana’ a masterstroke scheme to woo women voters

Bhopal: The Ladli Bahana Yojana (LBY) — a women’s beneficiary scheme of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan — could be a masterstroke to woo the female electorate in the upcoming Assembly polls scheduled in November.

A thumping charm has been seen in women towards the scheme. Over 1.25 crore women beneficiaries registered themselves on the portal, which was opened on March 25 and closed on April 30.

Under the scheme, a sum of Rs 1,000 will be credited monthly (Rs 12,000 yearly) into the accounts of eligible women beneficiaries from May 10. It is considered a game-changer idea of CM Chouhan in the political circles to financially encourage poor background women ahead of the elections.

The state-wide launching of the LBY was held on March 5, on CM Chouhan’s birthday at a mega event held in Bhopal where more than 1 lakh women from various sections of the society gathered in the programme while a large number of females joined the ceremony virtually, from all districts of the state. “The scheme is a social revolution and a campaign to change the lives of women. It is the result of my ‘Tapasya’ performed for the empowerment of poor women and it is a ‘Mahayagya’ to change their lives,” Chouhan had said while announcing the scheme.

In his ultimate style to connect people, CM Chouhan has himself made whirlwind tours in about all districts to promote the scheme. During the events, the CM interacted with the women and made them understand how they could take the benefits of the LBY.

“CM Chouhan is the only leader in the state BJP who has the ability to change any inverse situation into party favour due to his people’s connectivity. The scheme could be a masterstroke to woo female voters as he is known for women empowerment across the country,” a political commentator told Millennium Post.

After becoming chief minister, Chouhan introduced several schemes for empowering women in the last 18 years, in which Ladli Laxmi Yojana is very popular in the country and is considered a main factor in increasing the gender ratio in the state. By inspiring it, the scheme has been adopted by the central and many state governments.

According to the recently released data from the Election Commission(EC), a total of 2,60,23,733 female electorates are registered in the state out of 5,39,87,876 voters.

The EC’s data also shows that the turnout of the females has been greater than that of males for the last three Assembly polls held in the state. In the previous polls, it reached 73 per cent in comparison to the males.