State governments across the country and cutting across party lines have disbursed a staggering Rs 67,928 crore on populist welfare schemes in the run-up to Assembly elections over the past couple of years. Leading the pack are Maharashtra, in 2024, and Bihar, now, with BJP-led NDA coalition governments in both showering welfare doles in the face of anti-incumbency.
The Indian Express analysed eight major elections over the past two years showing how ruling parties have embraced fiscal populism as their primary electoral weapon.
In Maharashtra, where the 2024 Assembly elections came months after Lok Sabha results posed a setback to the NDA, the Mahayuti government disbursed Rs 23,300 crore under schemes like the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana and free power ahead of polls. Having returned to power, the Mahayuti government is struggling now to meet its Ladki Bahin commitment, with several ministers admitting that the outlay is forcing cutbacks in other departments.
Heading into the Assembly elections, Bihar now ranks second in disbursement among the eight states for which elections have been analysed, with the NDA government led by JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar rolling out spending amounting to Rs 19,333 crore.
This amounts to as much as 32.48%, or a third, of Bihar’s own tax revenue, or 7.40% of its total revenue earnings – placing the state at the top of the eight states in terms of fiscal profligacy.
In contrast are states like Haryana, which also voted last year, around the same time as Maharashtra. The BJP government in the state returned for a third term in power despite giving out very few cash doles before the polls, amounting to just 0.41% of its tax revenues. In Chhattisgarh, where the Congress was voted out and the BJP came to power in end-2023, the incumbent government was as fiscally prudent, spending just 0.66% of its tax revenue ahead of the polls.
On the other hand, in Jharkhand, the INDIA bloc JMM government that was trying to retain power in 2024 disbursed 15.95% of its tax revenues on schemes, primarily women-centric, as well as on power bill waivers. The JMM returned to power.
In Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP was re-elected in 2023 despite 18 years of anti-incumbency, the government disbursed 10.27% of its tax revenues on welfare doles before the polls.
Rajasthan was among the exceptions to this trend. Despite Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s Rs 6,248 crore spending across multiple welfare programmes, including free electricity and smartphone schemes, the party lost power, maintaining the state’s traditional pattern of alternating governments every five years.
In Odisha too, BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik could not save his long-running government despite last-minute spending of Rs 2,352 crore.
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi also had elections in this period but none of the announcements made by respective governments in these states could be implemented before the polls. All these incumbent governments lost power.
Cash doles targeted at women – whose electoral influence has been growing – form the biggest chunk of pre-poll schemes. They also rank among the top three in terms of spending – Maharashtra’s Majhi Ladki Bahin (Rs 13,700 crore), Bihar’s Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana (Rs 12,100 crore), and Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna (Rs 8,091 crore).
Most of these schemes were announced within six months of polling dates, with Bihar’s August-September 2025 launches setting new benchmarks for last-minute electoral largesse.
The allocation of nearly one-third of tax revenue to welfare schemes also raises serious questions about long-term sustainability of Bihar, particularly given the state’s limited Rs 59,520 crore tax base.
Many see this Rs 67,928 crore spending across eight states as a fundamental shift in Indian electoral politics, with traditional campaigning replaced by direct benefit transfers. Others denounce it as “institutionalized bribery”, arguing that the poll promises create an uneven playing field, where ruling parties can leverage government exchequer to woo voters compared to the resource-constrained Opposition.
The irony is particularly pronounced for the BJP, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi vehemently criticising such schemes as “revadi culture”, that undermined fiscal discipline.
