Welfare, freebies, doles, whatever one may choose to call it, is becoming an indispensable part of electoral strategy in most parts of India

NEW DELHI: There is more than one way to look at the assembly election results for Maharashtra and Jharkhand. And there is merit in looking at each of them in some detail. Here are three questions which can help us understand the results.

What explains this? The question is an interesting one because the results in both these states are in stark contrast to what happened in the Lok Sabha elections less than six months ago. What really happened in this short period? The other important question is that of identity-based ideological affinity to parties and its role in shaping the verdict.Mahayuti government in Maharashtra did before the elections? They announced cash transfer schemes for women; Ladki Bahin in Maharashtra and Maiya Samman Yojana in Jharkhand. Hemant Soren and Eknath Shinde were not the first chief ministers to do this. Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh have won landslide victories in their states with tailwinds from similar schemes. 

The key takeaway is simple. Welfare, freebies, doles, whatever one may choose to call it, is becoming an indispensable part of electoral strategy in most parts of India. It does not matter whether it is a poor state or a rich one – Jharkhand and Maharashtra are extreme examples of each of these – the underclass expects tangible, even if seemingly insignificant to the well-off, amount of money in return for votes. Fiscal hawks may scoff at this trend, but it is the democratic response to what has otherwise been an extremely unequal trajectory of economic growth in the country,