There seems to be a rise in women voter turnout in Assam. CM Sarma, meanwhile, is trying to fashion himself as the uncle of girl children.
Gitarthi Bora, a 43-year-old resident of Bharti village in Assam’s Sivasagar district, received a message last week on a WhatsApp group for the self-help group she is part of. It was from a senior, and invited her to attend chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s public meeting.
“Attendance was said to be compulsory, but I couldn’t attend,” she said, alleging that the message promised that a sum of Rs 10,000 – under the BJP government’s Lakhpati Baidew scheme – would be distributed among SHG members during the meeting.
Bora is among thousands of women who are part of SHGs in Assam, which has nearly 1.21 crore women voters and where schemes aimed at women and SHGs may help the BJP attract a larger share of the vote pie.
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com. Read the full story here.