Maharashtra allocates Rs 880 cr for publicity while poll dates lie in a limbo

The election commission of India on Friday announced the schedule for Assembly elections in Haryana (Oct 1) and Jammu & Kashmir (three phases starting Sep 18), but skipped Maharashtra. The move has raised many eyebrows, especially since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been talking about “one nation one election” for a long time.

Nevertheless, the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has sanctioned over Rs 880 crore to publicise various schemes over the last two weeks. Since the poll schedule has not been announced yet, the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government can spend even more on its image-building in the coming days to win the tough contest.

Of this, Rs 200 crore was announced on Thursday itself as the budget for the publicity of its flagship scheme “CM Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojna”. The scheme seeks to provide Rs 1,500 financial assistance per month to women below the poverty line. Over 80 lakh women have already received the amounts in their accounts, the government claimed.

The scheme is on the line of the “Ladli Bahana” introduced by the erstwhile Shivraj Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government ahead of the state polls last year. Besides, Rs 4.7 crore has been approved for a media plan to publicise “CM Annapurna Yojna” which provides three gas cylinders annually for underprivileged women. Both the schemes were announced in the State budget tabled in June.

These come just a fortnight after the cash-strapped state allocated Rs 270 crore on a special publicity campaign to popularise various welfare schemes. Of this, Rs 136 crore will be spent on hoardings, banners, LED/LCD/ESB screens, and digital wall painting, about Rs 52 crore on publicity through social media and digital media, Rs 40 crore each for print media and TV media.

Earlier this month, the government sanctioned Rs 300 crore to appoint Yojana-Doots who will publicise government schemes among the public. Besides, Rs 100 crore have been set aside for publicity of Housing and Rs 4 crore for Agriculture departments.

Cumulative, over Rs 880 crore has been allocated by the state for advertising and publicity ahead of polls. This is believed to be the highest spending by any government in the state so far.

Notably, Maharashtra is one of the most crucial states where polls are due this year, not only for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but also for the political survival of Eknath Shinde.

Shinde led the coup against Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray in 2021 while the latter was ruling the state in coalition with the Congress and NCP. Shinde along with most MLAs broke away from Thackeray, and became the CM with the support of the BJP while also taking away the symbol and name of his parent party.

Interestingly, BJP and Shinde Sena both fared poorly during the Loksabha elections by winning just 9 and 7 seats respectively. On the other hand, MVA won 30 seats including 9 of Shiv Sena (UBT).