India, Feb. 4 -- Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, who replicated the Shiv Sena's huge assembly election win in the local body elections last month, has played his trump card yet again. After getting significant support from women voters on account of the Ladki Bahin scheme, Shinde, with an eye on the ongoing zilla parishad elections and even the 2029 general elections, has appointed three women mayors in the civic bodies of Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli (KDMC) and Ulhasnagar.

Of the 9,70,25,119 voters in Maharashtra, 4,69,96,279 are female, which makes for 48% women voters in the state. It was this vote bank that Shinde targeted after the Mahayuti did abysmally in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections-as chief minister then, he launched the Ladki Ba...