Women will prove to be a decisive force in Bihar polls

There is little doubt that a generational shift has taken place in Bihar, with both Tejashwi and Chirag being the torchbearers of this change

- RASHME SEHGAL

Will the women's vote prove decisive in the upcoming Bihar elections? Will they prove kingmakers? During the Bihar assembly elections of 2020, female voters had risen to 59.7 per cent compared to the male voter turnout of 54.6 per cent. This trend of higher women voters has been witnessed in the state for more than a decade now, and their vote definitely helped seal Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's victory.

But the situation is likely to change in November. The final electoral roll figures released by the Election Commission, following the contentious Special Intensive Revision drive, show that from the 7.43 crore voters, there are approximately around 3.5 crore women voters and 3.92 crore men voters. This works out to 892 women for every 1000 men. This is surprising because between 2015 and 2020, the number of women voters rose by 39.62 lakh as opposed to male voters, whose figure rose by 34.42 lakh.

Despite caste playing a key role in Bihar elections, there is little doubt that women’s increased participation in electoral politics has primarily been propelled by Nitish Kumar, who, since 2005, has taken key steps to ensure women’s participation in decision-making at the village and panchayat levels. In fact, the last two elections were won by Nitish Babu on the ban on the sale and consumption of liquor across the state. Nitish had tied prohibition to women’s empowerment, arguing that women suffered the most because of alcohol abuse.