Hundreds of phones went up in the crowded Hari Nagar market as AAP president Arvind Kejriwal took the stage Monday evening. Men, women, and children leaned out of balconies to hear the former Delhi Chief Minister speak. However, his message during the padayatra in the Badarpur constituency was mostly intended for women.
“I’m putting all of the women here on duty to encourage them to vote for the AAP. They should also tell their men. I usually say that women are smarter than males…”Men sometimes vote for the BJP,” he stated. When AAP introduced the initiative to grant women Rs 1,000 per month, it was well aware that women were among its most vocal supporters.
A Lokniti-CSDS survey done on the eve of the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections found that women were 11 percentage points more likely than men to vote for AAP — 60% versus 49%.
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Speaking about the plan, Kejriwal stated, “Registration for monthly transfers of Rs 1,000 to women’s bank accounts will begin in a few days.” Following the elections, the monthly allowance would increase to Rs 2,100. In 2020, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri of the BJP won Badarpur, which includes Hari Nagar, by a margin of 3,719 votes.
Kejriwal stated that this distinction also influenced the work done in the constituency. “I have installed sewer pipes across Delhi. But Badarpur exists because you voted for the BJP last time,” Kejriwal stated.
Bidhuri, the Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, resigned in June after being elected to the South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. The AAP has now fielded Ram Singh Netaji Shah, who joined the party in 2020, in the constituency. Netaji, a two-time independent MLA, formerly served with the BSP before joining the AAP. In 2015, the AAP gained the seat. Its MLA, Narayan Dutt Sharma, won 27.93% of the vote, or 47,583 votes.