A list delayed is an election won

The Mahayuti governmentrsquos flagship scheme mdash Ladki Bahin Yojanamdash exposes the gap between big prepoll announcements and basic execution Fifteen months after rolling out direct transfer of Rs 1500 every month to eligible women in the state the verification process is still on and the final list and number of eligible beneficiaries are yet to be knownAs the government is still stuck with the verification process time and again reports have come to the fore about ineligible people still pocketing money through this welfare scheme Ineligible beneficiaries not only continue to burn a hole in taxpayersrsquo pockets but even damage the credibility of the programme itself According to government records when the scheme was announced it had around 263 crore applicants Initially the welfare scheme amount was disbursed without any scrutiny By February 2025 the scrutiny process reduced that figure by 11 lakh to 252 crore In March the number was further reduced to 246 crore But when further verification began though at a snailrsquos pace nearly 2634 lakh names were found ineligible that leaves 225 crore eligible womenNow that scrutiny has been initiated it has been observed that even men enrolled in the scheme This raises a key question were lapses in screening due to government or oversight and flaws by administration or bothBut with over ten per cent of the original list being faulty ineligible women and men took advantage of the scheme More numbers will have to be deleted once the entire verification process is done But such casualness with data and spending will certainly not go down well with the common manAt a time when the government is pouring over Rs 36000 crore every year into the scheme the minimum expectation of citizens is to make it foolproof This is not a technical challenge anymore The verification to weed out ineligible beneficiaries in todayrsquos digital age where permanent account number PAN Aadhaar and bank accounts are all linked is no longer a tedious or uphill task and can be completed within a few weeks no matter the size of the databaseIn neighbouring Madhya Pradesh MP state Aadhaarlinked Direct Beneficiary Transfer DBTenabled accounts were made mandatory for benefits which helpedreduce leakagesSince the scheme was already in place in MP the Maharashtra government could have taken a cue from them and done similar things here as the format for implementation and plugging leakages in the scheme was readily available In fact any government could have cleaned up the rolls in a week But the mandatory EKYC process was initiated just 1015 days ago nearly 15 months after the launch of the scheme The real struggle for many beneficiaries is that they lack smartphones internet connectivity and more importantly knowledge of how to complete the process independently They need assistance to get verified as per government norms In the past the scheme has even sparked tensions within the ruling party with several MLAs and ministers complaining that delays in the disbursement of development funds were being blamed on the popular scheme When the programme was announced it was estimated to cost Rs 45000 crore but during the 202526 budget the spend was cut to Rs 36000 highlighting the strain the scheme was placing on the finance department and the statersquos rising debtSo what is coming in the way of finalising the list of eligible beneficiaries Administrative inefficiency or deliberate political moveThe delay raises questions on whether the scheme is really to empower women or whether it is turning out to be a political cushion padded with taxpayersrsquo money The obvious suspicion is that the delay is not accidental but political Why risk alienating names before the ldquomini electionsrdquo the local body polls A bloated list of beneficiaries will only help the ruling regime to get electoral mileage during the ZP panchayat municipal corporation and council pollsSo why is the verification process moving at snailrsquos pace The Ladki Bahin scheme was a game changer mdash the idea changed the fortunes of BJP Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawarrsquos faction of the NCP After the Lok Sabha poll debacle for the BJP and its allies the welfare scheme turned out to be a political jackpot for the Mahayuti in the Assembly pollsThe Supreme Court has set January 31 2025 as the deadline for local body polls For Mahayuti these polls are a test of strength before the 2029 Lok Sabha pollsAware of the litmus test during the upcoming polls keeping the Ladki Bahin list longer works for the ruling regime given how crucial women voters were in swinging the 2024 Assembly pollsThis year the state in its budget has estimated a debt of R932 lakh crore for the financial year 2025206 The debt is said to be the highest in the statersquos historyThis simply means that even when the state governmentrsquos debt is rising governance still takes a backseat and vote bank politics takes precedence and the driverrsquos seatSanjeev Shivadekar is political editor midday He tweets SanjeevShivadekSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper