Pune (Maharashtra) [India], November 15 : NCP-SCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday accused NDA of engaging in "corruption" by distributing Rs 10,000 under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana just before the Bihar Assembly election.
Sharad Pawar stated that the same technique was also employed before the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election under the name of the Ladki Bahin Yojana to influence women's votes.
"The headlines in the newspapers today say that they (NDA) gave Rs 10,000 to women and that resulted in their victory. Giving Rs 10,000 right before elections is a corruption of sorts. This was done by the state government there. They got the results for it. We accept it." Sharad Pawar said.
"The same thing happened in Maharashtra before the elections. In the name of 'Ladki Bahin Yojana', money was disbursed (to women)," he added.
Women's vote was instrumental in the NDA's 'tsunami' that swept away the opposition Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, with the BJP emerging as the single-largest party with 89 seats, and the Janata Dal (United) finishing a close second with 85. The other allies of the ruling coalition also registered high strike rates.
Women voters outnumbered men in the two-phase assembly elections held on November 6 and November 11. The state recorded a historic turnout of 67.13%, the highest since 1951, with 71.6% women voting compared to 62.8% of men. This nearly 9-point difference could point to the voter block rallying behind Nitish Kumar, getting behind the multiple women's welfare measures implemented under the Nitish Kumar-led government.
Ahead of the assembly elections, CM Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced Rs 10,000 under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, benefitting nearly 1.25 crore women under the scheme.
The ruling NDA got 202 seats, a three-fourths majority in the 243-member House. This is the second time the NDA has crossed the 200-mark in the assembly polls. In the 2010 polls, it had won 206 seats.
In the NDA, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 89 seats, Janata Dal (United) won 85, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJPRV) won 19, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAMS) won five, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha won four seats.
In Mahagathbandhan, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won 25 seats, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) - CPI(ML)(L) - two, Indian Inclusive Party (IIP) - one and Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPI(M) one seat.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won five seats, and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got one seat.