Bhopal: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sweeping the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, the buzz is doing the rounds that the 'Ladli Behna Yojana' became a game changer for the party in polls. First, the timing and implementation of the scheme played a major role in securing the BJP's massive win in the polls.
The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government's decision to launch the scheme in March acted as a boon for the party. By the time, elections were around the corner, money had been credited into the accounts of more than 1.25 crore women in the state. After filling the nomination forms, the Shivraj Singh government intensified the campaign by warning the people that the scheme would be shut down if Congress came to power. Speaking to the womenfolk, he focused on highlighting the scheme during the campaign to win their confidence of voters. His efforts bore fruits by the time voters thronged the booths.
Senior political analyst Prakash Bhatnagar said that Singh's image was yet another crucial factor that led to the party's win. Since 2008, his largest vote bank has been the women voters. His ever-increasing concern for women in the state helped strengthen the scheme right after it was launched. The third factor for the campaign's success was that money was being directly credited into the accounts of the women and not into the accounts of their husbands or other family members.
Crediting money into accounts of 1.25 crore women within 100 days was not child's play. Yet, the BJP could achieve it in a jiffy. It was a Herculean task for government officials, who created a proper system through KYC. The linking of Aadhaar with the respective phone numbers of the women voters also helped immensely as it automatically created a list of the females in the state.
On the other hand, Congress's Kamal Nath promised to launch the 'Mahila Swabhiman Yojana' if voted to power. He also offered to credit Rs 1,500 compared to Chouhan's Rs 1,200. Forms for 'Mahila Swabhiman Yojana' were being filled. Eyeing this competition, Chouhan increased the amount of his scheme to Rs 1,250.
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