Schemes fail to break trend as Raj votes out incumbent

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot was confident that his populist welfare schemes would translate into votes for the Congress party, but the measures failed to break the tradition or "riwaz" of the desert state to vote out the incumbent government.

- Sachin Saini

Since April, the Gehlot government has been holding Mehngai Rahat Shivir (inflation relief camps) to provide various facilities at subsidised rates.

These included - gas cylinders at ₹500 per month, 100 units of free electricity to domestic consumers and 2,000 units to agriculture consumers per month, and a health insurance of up to ₹25 lakh.

Taking cue from the Karnataka model, where the Congress won the May assembly elections after mobilising support among the poor and middle class, the grand old party decided to focus on "poor-friendly" schemes and announced seven guarantees as pre-poll promises for Rajasthan - 10,000 annual allowance to the woman head of the family, a law to ensure the old pension scheme continues, expansion of the subsidised cylinder scheme to over 10 million families, purchasing cow dung at 22 per kg, 15 lakh insurance per household for damages due to natural disaster, free laptops for fresh college-goers, and English medium school-education for all students.