All the main political parties are leading their Assembly poll campaign here with promises for women voters. Most working women who spoke to The Telegraph said they were happy with women-centric schemes but service delivery remained a concern.

“If parties think about women, we will feel like voting for them. No one has come to our slum to explain their promises yet,” said Roshni Topno.

Topno, a voter in Mehrauli constituency of south Delhi, cooks for several households in the area. Topno has two daughters, one of whom is autistic and goes to a special school that costs her ₹3,000 a month.

“Kejriwal has performed well for us. However, there are some problems with officials,” she said.

“My daughter was sanctioned the disability grant of ₹2,500 a month last August, but she has not got a rupee yet even after I linked her bank account to her Aadhaar. The MLA (Naresh Yadav of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party) is approachable, and my husband will complain to him if it is delayed further.”

Sanjana Sharma, however, is not too impressed with the parties’ new promises.

“First, give what is already due to us. For the last three years we have been requesting a ration card,” she said.

“The officials said they could put my husband’s name on it but not mine or our two children’s. It makes no sense. They claim there is a waiting list.”

New ration cards cannot be issued in Delhi until the Centre conducts the population census, pending since 2021.

Sanjana and her husband Lovekesh — voters in Malviya Nagar seat of south Delhi — run an eatery. She is also a domestic worker.

“We can’t increase our prices (₹50 a meal) as our customers can’t afford to pay more. But prices keep increasing. The AAP has performed well; they alone can deliver subsidies,” Lovekesh said.

The family is heavily in debt.

“Don’t give us anything free; just give us good water and proper sewers,” a domestic worker in Trilokpuri constituency of east Delhi said.

“The free bus travel offered to women has resulted in buses not stopping when they see women in this area. I have to now take an e-rickshaw to work, and instead of ₹10 per day, I now spend ₹40…. The quality of the grains in the ration shop is poor, too.”

Her neighbour Lakshmi, also a domestic worker, said: “I will vote for (Arvind) Kejriwal on the promise of ₹2,100.” (See chart)

Free bus travel for women and the Mohalla Clinics are among the schemes introduced by the AAP government. The east Delhi maids said the pharmacies at these clinics had for a long time failed to give them the medicines they needed, and had only recently started giving them all the medicines listed in their prescriptions.

A change in tender conditions this year, as well as the failure to pay the vendors on time, has hit the Delhi government’s medicine procurements.

The previous governments in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, which had introduced women’s income support schemes, got re-elected last year. A similar scheme promised by the AAP in Punjab in 2021 has not been implemented even after the party won the polls there the following year.

Reena Mandal, a domestic worker from chief minister Atishi’s constituency of Kalkaji, said: “The free bus is very helpful for working women. I use the Mohalla Clinic as well. Most people I know are voting for the AAP.”

Rajani, a domestic help from the Matiala seat in west Delhi, said she didn’t trust any of the new promises made by the AAP and the BJP.

“I don’t have to pay for electricity. The benefit should continue. My landlord has not taken a water connection. I depend on groundwater supply from a private person,” she said.

“The Delhi Jal Board’s water connection should be made free so that my landlord can get a connection…. The government should give me a single-room house because the monthly rent of ₹3,500 is too much. As of now, it’s not clear but I feel everyone will vote for the AAP.”

Several women workers listed the free bus travel, in addition to the subsidies on water and power for small consumers, as a major relief.

Mithilesh Kumari, a housemaid from the Okhla constituency in southeast Delhi, wants the government to focus on long-term development in addition to subsidies and sops.

She said: “(The promised sums of) ₹2,100 or ₹2,500 can barely cover the cost of vegetables for a month. The government must work on providing jobs and better salaries.”

Bhavya Gupta, a public relations executive and voter in upmarket Adarsh Nagar, north Delhi, backed the welfare schemes but felt they did not reach those who needed them the most.

“I believe the biggest concern for women in Delhi remains safety. Most women still don’t feel secure stepping out at night, which limits their freedom and opportunities,” she said.

“Beyond the financial support from these welfare schemes, what we truly need are stronger safety assurance schemes, better law enforcement, and a city where women can move around without fear.”

Delhi police are controlled by the Centre.

Delhi votes on February 5