MP: ‘Ladli Behna’ scheme’s first dole of Rs 1,000 each to be credited into accounts of 1.25 crore women on Saturday

Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh government will on Saturday transfer Rs 1,000 each to 1.25 crore women in the state under its flagship scheme ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’, a move billed as a game-changer by BJP leaders ahead of the year-end Assembly polls.

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Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has appealed to the women in the state to “rejoice on June 10 evening when Rs 1,000 will trickle into their account and joyously light a lamp at their place”, a government statement said on Friday.

The beneficiaries can withdraw the money from the bank accounts, the next day onwards, said the statement.

With the scheme being rolled out, the BJP government in MP would be able to reach out to about half of the 2.6 crore women voters in the state.

Women voters outnumber their male peers in at least 18 of the 230 assembly constituencies in MP, as per an estimate. These areas include the tribal-dominated Balaghat, Mandla, Dindori, Alirajpur and Jhabua districts.

After he launched the scheme on his 65th birthday on March 5 in Bhopal, Chouhan has taken part in several Ladli Behna functions across MP in the past two months braving the scorching summer.

Under the scheme, women aged between 23 years and 60 years will be given Rs 1,000 per month with certain riders, including that they are not income tax payees and their families’ annual income is below Rs 2.50 lakh annually.

A provision of Rs 8,000 crore has been made for the scheme in the state Budget.

Women seeking to avail of the scheme submitted their forms from March 15 to April 30. After scrutiny, the government prepared the final list of beneficiaries who will receive the first dole of Rs 1,000 each in their bank account on June 10.

The number of new women voters in MP has gone up by 2.79 per cent, while it is 2.30 per cent for male voters, officials said. Of the 13.39 lakh new voters, 7.07 lakh are women, as per official records.

The last MP Assembly polls held on November 28, 2018, threw up a hung Assembly, with the Congress emerging as the largest party with 114 seats in the 230-member House. The BJP won 109 seats.

The Congress formed a coalition government under Kamal Nath, but it fell in March 2020 after several MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia walked out and joined the BJP, paving the way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan to return as chief minister.