Her own CM

Vasundhara has claimed that there was an unprecedented women turnout of over 60 per cent, and a bulk of them voted in her favour. Uma Bharti too attracted not just OBCs but also women during her campaign. In fact, the choice of Uma as a candidate prompted Congress to field more women.

The BJP has traditionally been a male-dominated party and more men than women have voted for it in past elections. But that seems to be changing, and one reason is their projection of women.

The Congress, for a long time, attracted women voters, and Indira Gandhi had a lot to do with it. Even today, she has greater recognition among illiterate Adivasi and Dalit women than many leaders after her.

The first time the ‘‘woman vote’’ as a separate electoral entity came to the fore was in the 1984 LS polls after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

The BJP has not been able to replicate it. Its women supporters have largely been from the urban and semi-urban middle class. However, the party’s conscious decision to project women leaders is extending this base.

The Congresswoman who exulted over ‘‘feminine’’ power today said the rise of women should teach a lesson to male chauvinist MPs. ‘‘They may try to prevent 33 per cent reservation for us in Parliament, but the people are voting for us,’’ she said. The real challenge before Vasundhara and Uma, observers feel, is to change the stereotype of the woman politician in India.

Jayalalithaa, Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee are all regarded as temperamental, autocratic, and — in case of the first two — allegedly corrupt.

Sheila Dikshit and Sushma Swaraj are among the handful of ‘‘normal’’ women politicos who have not made much of their femininity and strode ahead on the basis of performance.

It remains to be seen whether the ‘‘princess’’ and the ‘‘sanyasin’’ go their way or reinforce the ‘‘temperamental’’ tag.