Elections are coming, and welfare spending is coming. Forward of the meeting elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, the incumbent governments collectively introduced, allotted or disbursed over Rs 37,000 crore via new or enhanced schemes. Barring one scheme in Kerala, which price round Rs 3,000 crore, all of the schemes had been introduced between January and March, weeks earlier than states went to polls.
If the headline numbers are any indication, states have proven actual urgency with their spending over the previous month. Final month alone, over Rs 20,000,000,000 was disbursed via money transfers, one-time transfers, compensation and pension will increase. If Tamil Nadu spent greater than Rs 13,000 crore in March upfront of current schemes together with Pongal items, West Bengal spent greater than Rs 3,000 crore in February-March. On March 10, Assam handed out Rs 3.6 billion to voters in a single day.
This highlights how the federal government introduced ahead advantages within the weeks main as much as the Mannequin Code of Conduct (MCC), successfully shifting months’ value of advantages ahead within the slender pre-election window.
Featured girls
In Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister MK Stalin campaigned primarily amongst girls voters. On January 4, the federal government introduced that it might give Pongal money of Rs 3,000 to every family with rice class ration playing cards and residents of Sri Lankan Tamil camps, which covers over 2.22 billion households. The money part alone is estimated at Rs 6,936 million, which is simply over 3% of the state’s tax income of Rs 2,200 billion in 2025-2026.
Barely a month later, the DMK authorities offered loans of Rs 5,000 every to 1.31 billion girls beneath the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai (KMUT) scheme. Of this, Rs 3,000 goes in direction of common entitlements for February, March and April, whereas Rs 2,000 is described as ‘summer time subsidy’. The entire quantity paid was roughly 6.55 billion rupees, with an incremental portion of two.62 billion rupees. This 12 months’s pre-poll money infusion for girls totals no less than Rs 9,556 crore, about 4.3% of the state’s personal tax income.
Political events are more and more specializing in this demographic, as girls outnumber males within the majority of constituencies. A part of the DMK’s early success was on account of schemes equivalent to free bus journey for girls and the nationwide social gathering’s month-to-month switch of Rs 1,000. DMK’s newest payout is geared toward strengthening its base in addition to being a serious expenditure, as rivals like AIADMK and actor Vijay’s TVK have promised related prizes.
Bengal’s Recalibrated Welfare Promotion
In West Bengal, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) authorities has doubled down on its flagship Laxmier Bhandar mission. Within the February 2026 interim finances, the month-to-month subsidy has been elevated by Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 for basic class girls and Rs 1,700 for SC/ST beneficiaries.
With 2.2 billion girls affected, the hike alone would price about 13,200 billion rupees a 12 months. The Finances additionally launched the Bangla Yuva Sati scheme, which gives Rs 1,500 per 30 days to unemployed youths between the ages of 21 and 40 who’ve cleared Madhyamik, with an preliminary allocation of Rs 5,000 crore.
Further commitments embody elevating the month-to-month gratuity of Rs 1,000 for anganwadi staff and helpers (Rs 280 million) and citizen volunteers and inexperienced police (Rs 150 million). Bengal’s pre-poll welfare pledge increments add as much as a complete of round Rs 18,600 crore, which is about 16.5-17 per cent of the state’s tax income, the very best among the many 5 states.
Launched in 2021, Laxmier Bhandar performed a key position in TMC’s victory within the final elections, particularly amongst girls voters. The rise is now the centerpiece of the social gathering’s coverage for 2026, and is seen as proof that it’s persevering with its coverage regardless of funding constraints from the Middle.
Assam, Kerala, Pondicherry
In Assam, the Bharatiya Janata Occasion is attempting to make use of the Ornodoi scheme to copy Bengal’s welfare successes. On March 10, simply earlier than the polls, the federal government offered loans of Rs 9,000 every to about 4 million girls, together with 4 months’ installments and top-up to Bohag Bihu.
The day by day remittance quantity reached Rs 3,600 billion, which is greater than 10% of the state’s annual tax income of Rs 34,823 billion. Whereas women-focused direct advantages have beforehand helped assuage voter anger over unemployment and inflation, the dimensions and timing of the newest funds underscore the centrality of ladies’s advantages to the Bharatiya Janata Occasion’s technique.
The Left authorities in Kerala has an analogous political calculation, though it has chosen a extra institutional strategy. In October 2025, social safety pension was elevated from Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,000 per 30 days, benefiting about 62 million aged individuals, widows and disabled individuals. The 400 rupee hike means an extra burden of about 2,976 million rupees per 12 months.
The state has additionally launched Sthree Suraksha, a brand new pension of Rs 1,000 per 30 days for economically weak girls and trans girls aged 35-60 who are usually not lined by current schemes. The scheme, which targets 31.34 billion beneficiaries, is predicted to price round Rs 3,800 billion yearly.
The primary installment was transferred to only over 1 million beneficiaries on February 11. Along with the pension hike and the brand new scheme, round Rs 6,776 billion might be promised. That is roughly 7.4% of Kerala’s personal tax income. For a authorities criticized for fiscal stress and fee delays, the message is obvious: welfare is not going to be minimize.
Even Pondicherry, which has a a lot smaller monetary base, is following the identical template. In mid-January, the Union Territory authorities accredited a Pongal money present of Rs 3,000 and merchandise kits value Rs 750 to 347,000 PDS households.
The money part amounted to round Rs 140 million, and the full quantity amounted to round Rs 130 million, representing about 1-1.2% of annual income.
Welfare as a polling technique
Throughout these states, welfare is now not an ancillary marketing campaign software. It is a marketing campaign.
An evaluation by The Indian Categorical in October 2025 of eight main state elections from 2023 to 2025 discovered that the federal government had spent Rs 67,928 crore on pre-poll welfare. Bihar alone accounted for 32.48% or Rs 19,333 crore of tax income for elections.
The report confirmed that the ruling alliance in Maharashtra and Bihar relied closely on last-mile money transfers to blunt anti-incumbency and return to energy, mirroring earlier patterns in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Whether or not this technique can as soon as once more offset issues over unemployment, inflation and governance will solely grow to be clear when the votes are counted on Could 4. For now, the numbers inform their very own story. With round 4% of tax income in Tamil Nadu, greater than 16% in West Bengal and greater than 10% in Assam, incumbents are funneling a bigger share of their funds into welfare, betting that money in hand will flip into votes on the polling cubicles.
