Women voters will play an important role in forming the government

The election of the 18th Lok Sabha has been announced in India, the world’s largest democratic country. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has released the voting schedule for the 18th Lok Sabha in seven phases, while June 4 has been fixed as the date of counting of votes. The simple thing is that by the afternoon of June 4, the picture of the 18th Lok Sabha will be clear. Well, all this is a different matter, but the increasing active participation of women in elections in India, the world’s largest democratic country, is praiseworthy. In the last two elections, women voters of the country have played an important role in forming the new government. Interestingly, in the 2019 elections, female voters voted more vocally than male voters. Now it is believed that in about a dozen states of the country, women’s votes are going to play a big role in the formation of the new government. The positive side of the picture is that women have come forward not only in voting but also in actively participating in the elections and expressing their candidature in the elections. While 22 women MPs were elected in the general elections for the first and second Lok Sabha of the country, 78 women MPs were elected in the last 2019 general elections. However, despite the political parties making new efforts to bring half the population into the mainstream, the participation of women at the time of ticket distribution remains less. Experience shows that no political party gives tickets to women, let alone half of them, even on one-third of the seats.

Well, the best thing is that whether it is village or city, women are no longer confined to the four walls of the house or vote as per the orders of men. Today the women of the country have come out of the situation of agreeing with men. Women have started actively participating in the entire election process. If she expresses her candidacy in elections, she also registers her presence during the election campaign. On the other hand, she has come forward and started taking part in the voting. All this has become clear from the data of the last elections. This year there are 96 crore 88 lakh voters in the country, out of which the number of women voters is around 47 crore 15 lakh. According to a rough estimate, there are about two crore women voters less than men. More or less, this was the situation during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Despite all this, the turnout of female voters is higher than that of male voters. In the 2019 elections, the percentage of male voters was 67.02 percent while the percentage of women voters was 67.18 percent. The voting percentage of women was high in many states including North-East, Himachal, Goa, Bihar. While this is a matter of voting, on the other hand, women voters have played a greater role in forming the new government. If seen, the party to which women expressed more trust or rather the party to which they gave more votes, formed the government. The interesting thing is that the main reason for the formation of Modi government in 2014 and its repeat in 2019 is also due to women showing more trust in BJP and especially Narendra Modi. In the 2004 elections, 22 percent women voted for BJP and 26 percent men voted for Congress, whereas by the time of 2019 elections, a tremendous change was seen in this. In the 2019 elections, the figure of women expressing confidence in Modi reached 36 percent. That means 36 percent women voted for BJP in the 2019 elections. It was the result of more women voting that BJP and Narendra Modi got a huge majority in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Taking lessons from the last two Lok Sabha election results, now all political parties are making every possible effort to bring women voters in their favor. This is why schemes and programs to woo women are not only being announced but every possible effort will be made to woo women voters in the upcoming election manifestos of political parties. Because one thing has become clear that today’s woman is capable of taking her own decisions and cannot be influenced by pressure or in any other way. At least the results of the past elections are pointing in this direction. Especially if the election campaign in the coming days is women-centric, it cannot be ruled out. We have seen this clearly in the elections to the Legislative Assemblies of various states of the country. Central government’s Ujjwala scheme, Madhya Pradesh’s Laadli scheme, Lakhpati Laadli scheme, cash to women heads and free bus travel have seen Congress in Karnataka and Telangana. AAP is trying to woo women through Mahila Samman Yojana. Almost all political parties are moving in this direction and this will become more evident in the coming days.

Well, this is a different matter, but it has become clear that women are going to play a leading role in this great festival of democracy of the country. Now women voters cannot be underestimated. This can also be considered a good sign in the direction of women empowerment. But now it should be clear that women and all political parties will be keeping an eye on women in the coming days during the elections and every possible effort will be made to get women in their favor to vote. This can be called a positive effort for both the country and democracy, while on the other hand, the women of India are emerging as an example for the countries of the world as well. It should not be an exaggeration that in the coming elections, political parties will keep their eyes on women voters.

– Dr. Rajendra Prasad Sharma