For coming Assembly elections in 2022, pleasing ‘Her Votes’ start

HARISH MONGA

Among the many promises made by parties in the high-voltage Assembly election battle, a common thread stands out — the focus on women. While the appeal to the woman electorate is not new, this time the emphasis has been on financial assistance and “empowerment”, apart from the usual promises of reservations, appliances etc.

Let us first have a glance over the statistics, Aas per 2019 voter list, the number of male voters in Punjab is 1,07,54,157 and the number of female voters is 96,19,711 with 507 as third gender. The number of women voters in Punjab is around 45%.

Recently the promise by the Congress government in Punjab announced free travel for women in government buses while the Akali Dal announced free ravel in government and private buses. During the visit of AAP Supremo he announced free domestic 300 units of electricity. But one thing is certain that Capt government announced and implemented while Sukhbir and Kejriwal promised so far .

All these pre-poll announcements speak well of alluring the women voters and the ‘W-Factor’( Women) can play a vital role in the political game in the coming elections. The Punjab government’s decision for free travel to women is believed to directly benefit 1.31 cr women across Punjab and there is enthusiasm among this class.

Such pre-poll promises will continue to be a part of system of protectionism rather changes it, says Dr Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research, who believes that manifestos reflect the ideological perspective of parties dominated by men.

Frankly speaking… it would be difficult to judge well in advance as to whether the political parties would easily hold the CM’s chair in 2022 with these pre-poll announcements. But they have started working on these lines with a high hope to win over the minds of the women to make it a vote bank.