Last week the Election Commission of India initiated the next round of state elections. Ahead of it, incumbent governments in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra rolled out direct benefit transfers in cash for women. Indeed, this trend carries over from recent rounds of elections.
What it does though is to put the spotlight on women voters.
For long ignored or taken for granted women voters have acquired critical mass. And they are bucking accepted norms and even voting differently from their male counterparts.
How will this impact India’s polity?
To understand this and more StratNews Global spoke to Rahul Verma, a fellow at the Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research.
Anil Padmanabhan has been a journalist for the last 36 years. He has worked in various capacities in several publications including Afternoon Despatch & Courier, Press Trust of India, Business Standard, Mint and was based in New York for India Today. He was a Nieman Fellow in 2001. He tweets at @capitalcalculus.
