Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and state Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary during the inauguration and foundation stone laying ceremony of schemes, in Gopalganj
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: In the run up to the Assembly election Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar made a flurry of announcements – from free electricity to direct cash transfers to women, farmers and students, more than doubling the social security pension and creation of one crore jobs.
These promises resonated in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) manifesto released a few days ahead of the two-phase polling and has paid handsome results leading to a thumping victory in the election.
“In the Bihar Legislative Assembly Elections-2025, the people of the state have expressed their confidence in our government by giving us a massive majority. For this, I bow to all the esteemed voters of the state, and express my heartfelt gratitude and thanks,” Kumar said in a post on X.
In the 243 member state assembly, the ruling alliance has won over 200 seats. Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) has nearly doubled its tally from 43 seats in 2020 to 84 while BJP has emerged as the single-largest party leading in 93 seats.
Kumar, one of the longest serving CMs in the country, is known for pragmatic politics and had earlier avoided resorting to freebies to attract votes. However, to blunt anti-incumbency and criticism on unemployment and socio-economic development Kumar announced a series of freebies schemes.
The schemes include up to 125 units of free electricity to households, up to Rs 2 lakh for women under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana (Chief Minister’s Women’s Employment scheme), higher social security pension, construction of 50 lakh new houses, upto Rs 5 lakh free medical treatment and Rs 1 lakh crore investment to promote industrialization. The NDA has promised to increase cash transfer to farmers under the PM KISAN scheme by Rs 3,000 to Rs 9,000 per year.
Several of these schemes were rolled out days ahead of the announcement of the election dates. Under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana Rs 10,000 has been transferred to the accounts of over 1.3 crore women. A part of these transfers were reportedly done after the announcement of the election dates on October 6.
While the freebies announcements have paid rich political returns for the ruling alliance, financial consequences are bound to have an impact on the state’s ability to fund its long-term infrastructure projects.
The state is overwhelmingly dependent on the central transfers to meet its expenses. Nearly three-fourth of the state’s revenue receipts come from devolution and grants from the centre.