2024 Elections: Women voters hold the key to BJP's fate

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Transcript

00:00Now, women voters have substantially increased over the years. In the 2004 Lok Sabha general

00:10election, the voter turnout amongst women was 53 percent. And that shot up dramatically

00:15to 67 percent in 2019. And the Election Commission predicts this is going to go up again next

00:20year to around 69, 70 percent. And that's terrific because it means that more and more

00:26women are participating in democratic processes like elections. But what are political parties

00:32doing when it comes to actually giving women more representation? Now, that's where the

00:37patriarchy still exists, where political parties still largely believe that women are not winnable

00:43candidates. So there is a reluctance to actually give them more representation. Now, even the

00:47BJP, with all its women-friendly schemes, etc., only has 42 women MPs out of a total

00:53of 303 in the Lok Sabha. There are parties like the BJD and the TMC that have made a

00:58conscious effort in recent years to give women more tickets, at least, when it comes to representation.

01:04Ultimately, though, wooing women voters cannot be just lip service. It can't just be beti

01:09bachao, beti padhao, without actually respecting and looking after those betis. Whether there

01:15is outrage over Bilkis Bhanu's rapist being released from jail or the way the wrestlers

01:19were treated for speaking out against sexual harassment, everyone really needs to walk

01:24the talk when it comes to wooing the women vote.

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