Patna: Women voters as the silent power

Bihar’s election landscape is shifting in subtle yet decisive ways, with women emerging as a strong but quiet influence. Often overlooked in poll analyses, women voters are playing a crucial role in shaping household decisions, making them a game-changer in the upcoming 2025 Assembly elections.

NDA’s new strategy

The National Democratic Alliance has recalibrated its campaign, placing women at the centre of its outreach. Welfare schemes, financial empowerment initiatives and emotive appeals form the three-pronged strategy aimed at mobilising this electorate.

  • Nitish Kumar’s initiatives: The Chief Minister has announced measures under a women’s employment scheme, offering financial support to one woman in each family to start micro-enterprises. Initial instalments of loans are being disbursed to strengthen women’s economic participation.

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outreach: Modi recently launched the Jeevika Nidhi, a cooperative federation with a ₹1,000 crore corpus, with ₹105 crore already transferred to women-focused development programmes. Significantly, the Prime Minister also credited Nitish Kumar for his role in steering the initiative.

    • Political messaging: Women at the centre

    Beyond schemes, women have become central to the NDA’s political messaging. Following derogatory remarks directed at the Prime Minister’s late mother, the alliance framed the issue as an attack on matri shakti—mother power—using it to build an emotional connect with voters. Modi’s speeches have consistently underlined the importance of women’s dignity and respect in society.

    The electoral calculus

    Women voters are not only independent participants in elections but also influence entire households. Welfare schemes directly targeting them resonate with everyday concerns such as livelihoods, autonomy, and family dignity.

    Broader implications

    The renewed emphasis on women marks a shift in Bihar’s political strategy. By combining targeted welfare measures with emotive messaging, the NDA hopes to turn women voters into a reliable constituency. In what is expected to be a competitive election, this focus could provide the alliance with a decisive edge.