Notes for votes don’t make voters better off
Unconditional cash transfers just before elections may help fight anti-incumbency, but it bleeds the economy and has limited long-term gains in real welfare of the people
A new pattern of freebie disbursement has spread its tentacles across the Indian polity, state elections at its core. Parties in govt, implement a plethora of freebies, just before elections.
Voters enter polling booths, having already received freebies in kind, or as cash in their bank accounts.
Opinions differ on whether poll-time freebies impact election results. Politicians likely believe they do.
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Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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