Centre diverted ₹14,000 cr meant for Bihar to fund elections, alleges Jan Suraj's Pavan Verma

Jan Suraaj spokesperson and senior party strategist Pavan Verma has accused the Narendra Modi-led central government of taking money meant for a World Bank-supported project and using it during the Bihar election period. 

He says the government moved funds and sent ₹10,000 each to 1.25 crore women under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana right before voting began, which he believes raises doubts about where the money came from and why it was released then.

Verma’s comments came during an interview with ANI, where he discussed what he described as information received by the party regarding fund movements carried out shortly before the Model Code of Conduct came into effect. He said the state was already struggling financially. “The public debt in Bihar is at present 4,06,000 crores. The interest per day is 63 crores. The treasury is empty,” he claimed, adding that the financial condition made the sudden availability of large sums even more concerning.

He went on to say the party had heard that the ₹10,000 per beneficiary payout “was given from Rs 21,000 crores, which came from the World Bank for some other project,” though he repeatedly clarified that this information might be inaccurate. According to Verma, the timing of the expenditure was crucial: “An hour before the moral code of conduct for the polls, Rs 14,000 crores were taken out and distributed to 1.25 crore women in the state.”

Even as he detailed these claims, Verma stressed that he was not presenting the information as proven. “As I have said, this is our information. If it is wrong, I seek forgiveness. But if it is true, then the question arises as to how far this is ethical,” he said. He added that governments may legally justify fund reallocation after the fact, but during elections, such actions create an advantage that is almost impossible for other parties to counter.

Verma also spoke about what he described as widespread voter apprehensions in the state. “There are 4 crore women voters in Bihar, and 2.5 crores have not received the amount. The remaining women felt that if the NDA does not come to power, then we will not receive the benefit,” he said, arguing that the belief itself—even if based on incomplete information—shaped voting patterns.

He said the environment created by these financial transfers overshadowed Jan Suraaj’s effort to introduce itself to the electorate in its first Assembly election. “Our ambitions being a new party were excessive, but our message was right and the response was good,” Verma said, adding that the party’s ground-level campaign had received positive feedback before the last-minute announcement of benefits.

When asked whether schemes like the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana played a decisive role in the election, Verma drew attention to earlier remarks by the Prime Minister himself. “PM Modi has himself criticised giving freebies. Maybe he had said it in the context of the Delhi Assembly and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Now what happened in Bihar?” he said, suggesting that the approach contradicted the Prime Minister’s own publicly stated position.

Verma dismissed the suggestion that Jan Suraaj lost because of founder Prashant Kishor’s comments about lifting the liquor ban if the party came to power. According to him, prohibition in Bihar existed largely on paper. “The withdrawal of the liquor ban would have been the issue if it had actually been in place in Bihar. Liquor is being sold at every nook and corner. It is being home delivered. It is being sold at higher prices. People are consuming it and paying more for it,” he said.

He also pointed to what he called the social fallout of the existing prohibition law. He noted that “over 2 lakh people, mostly extremely backward Dalits, are in jail” for violating the law and said many could not afford bail. Verma argued that a policy that led to widespread illegal sales and disproportionately affected vulnerable groups could not be considered effective.

Verma further said that the ruling alliance’s policies directed at women, combined with the last-minute financial assistance, became key drivers of the electoral outcome. “The reason for our loss was what Nitish Ji did for women and the last moment transfer of Rs 10,000,” he said, adding that it became difficult for any new party to compete with a welfare measure of that scale and timing.

The 2025 Bihar Assembly election concluded with a decisive victory for the National Democratic Alliance, which secured 202 of the 243 seats, marking the second time the alliance crossed the 200-seat mark after its 2010 performance. The BJP led the tally with 89 seats, closely followed by the JD(U) with 85. Among alliance partners, LJP(RV) bagged 19 seats, HAM(S) won five and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha secured four.

The Mahagathbandhan, led by the RJD, finished a distant second with 35 seats. The RJD won 25, Congress secured six, CPI(ML)(L) won two, the Indian Inclusive Party won one and CPI(M) also secured one seat. Meanwhile, other parties like AIMIM and BSP also made their presence felt in the state, though they did not significantly alter the overall result.

For Jan Suraaj, which contested nearly all 243 seats in its debut election, the results underscore a challenging road ahead. The party failed to win a single seat, prompting its leadership to reflect on the impact of last-minute welfare schemes, state policies and broader electoral dynamics.