The level playing field in any election is decided by the amount of resources available to competing parties.

The role of institutions may be seen to be partisan, and this might serve the ruling party much more than its opposition. But leaving that argument aside, what does the available money look like?

The Supreme Court struck down electoral bonds in February 2024. But it did not call for the thousands of crores of the “unconstitutional” bonds to be returned.

As a result, the BJP was left with a net Rs 6,064 crore. In the first issuance of the bonds, BJP got 94% of the share of bonds paid secretly and anonymously to political parties. A party like the Rashtriya Janata Day, leading the opposition Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, secured Rs 72 crores. The Congress, the leading opposition in the country got approximately Rs 1,301 crore.

The other skew is in the terms of the public money available to the ruling party which is used to claim as a “gift” from the party to the people. The trend started early after 2014, when beneficiaries, invariably the poorest in the income pyramid were branded “laabhaarthis” and not citizens getting their due.

The money transfer of Rs 10,000 in public funds – taxpayers' money– to almost 1.2 crore women on election eve reportedly added up to Rs 10,000 crore. That this was spun as a "gift" went unremarked, let alone acted upon by the Election Commission.

The impact of this large sum of money on a highly indebted economy, the poorest state in the country, is noteworthy. The BJP having been in power for two decades in Patna and for over 11 years in Delhi, having overseen the state of affairs

So how level is the pitch INDIA was playing on, before the first vote was even cast?

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