Economic burden of poll promises 

October 27, 2025

Abhishek Vij

Indian democracy takes pride in the fact that the general elections for the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections are conducted peacefully. Even if some isolated incidents occur, they do not affect the successful completion of the electoral process. It is a characteristic of Indian voters that they readily accept the election results, and the public waits for five years for a change of era.

However, for three-quarters of India’s population, or the poor and lower middle class, the era does not change under the rule of any government. To appease them, the election agendas of political parties compete with each other in announcing concessions and subsidies to the public. The same is evident from the election agendas of the parties in the Bihar assembly elections. A survey of the economic condition of the states in the country reveals that Bihar is economically very backward.

Dreams of a new era are being shown. The opposition has put forward Tejashwi Yadav’s name as the leader for the Chief Minister’s post. Prime Minister Modi also announces in his rallies that they will contest the elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. Three months before the announcement of the elections, Nitish Kumar’s coalition government made major announcements in the name of social welfare, putting a burden of Rs 29,000 crore on the state treasury. This includes the women’s employment scheme, free electricity, social security pensions, youth allowance, and a clothing allowance for construction workers.

With less than twenty days left for the elections to be completed, political parties are making one announcement after another regarding electoral concessions. These announcements include providing government jobs to one member of every family, a salary of Rs 30,000 to Jeevika Didis (women self-help group members), and health insurance schemes, including a one-time payment scheme for women. No party is clarifying where the provisions for these announcements will come from in the government treasury.

Now, if one member of every family is to be given a job, it means that 2.97 crore jobs will have to be provided in Bihar. There are over two lakh Jeevika Didis (women self-help group members) in Bihar, and they have been promised a salary of Rs. 30,000. 58 percent of Bihar’s population is young, and 14.7 lakh voters will be exercising their franchise for the first time. Therefore, promises are also being made to appease the youth. The number of male and female voters in Bihar is almost equal. Hence, announcements are also being made to satisfy female voters. It should be remembered that the judiciary and economists say that before making any such populist announcements, the government should assess the state of its treasury.

Generally, state governments have adopted a tradition of not imposing any new taxes in the budgets they present. Later, taxes are imposed through back doors, and the burden of debt is increased. This severely damages the economic condition of the states. Bihar is no exception. Such populist announcements are also made in other states of the country. Many problems are sought to be solved through announcements of concessions, and then these very concessions become a noose around the neck of the states. Now, if the promise of one job per family or two crore jobs is to be fulfilled to appease the 58 percent young population in Bihar, it will prove to be very expensive for Bihar economically.