Will the middle class change the mood of Delhi elections? Understand- how much impact will the Income Tax relief have on the voters of the capital!

Finance and Corporate affair minister Nirmala Sitharaman -file Photo

While presenting the Budget 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced to make income up to Rs 12 lakh per annum tax free. Apart from this, the benefit of standard deduction of Rs 75,000 will also be available. In such a situation, the big question is whether this income tax relief will affect the upcoming assembly elections in Delhi? And does it have the power to change the electoral equation?

Just before the elections in Delhi, the Modi government has given a big relief to the middle class. While presenting the Budget 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced to make income up to Rs 12 lakh per annum tax free. Apart from this, the benefit of standard deduction of Rs 75,000 will also be available. In such a situation, the big question is whether this income tax relief will affect the upcoming assembly elections in Delhi? And does it have the power to change the electoral equation?

Actually, the role of the middle class has been very important in the politics of Delhi. A large part of the total population here comes from the middle class, which is a taxpayer as well as politically aware. In this state where there is a direct contest between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the mood of the middle class has a direct impact on the election results.

Delhi voters are mainly divided into three categories:

Middle class: Which is a large part of the taxpayers and can be influenced by the announcements of tax exemption.

Lower class: Which depends on government schemes and free facilities.

Upper class: Whose inclination has been seen more towards the big parties of the country, BJP or Congress.

How much impact on Delhi elections?

In Delhi, which has a population of 2.5 crore, there are 15 lakh people who pay income tax to the government. It is estimated that out of these 15 lakh people, 6 lakh people will not have to pay income tax to the government from now on. If we assume that there will be at least 4 members in the families of these 6 lakh taxpayers, then 24 lakh people in Delhi will directly benefit from this exemption. And on this basis, you can say that this decision can have a big impact on the Delhi elections.
However, BJP says that if the government had to win the elections, it would have made this announcement in the budget of the year 2024, which was presented before the Lok Sabha elections. The real purpose of this announcement of the government is to increase the spending capacity of middle class families. When the government will not take Income Tax from a person earning up to one lakh rupees every month, then that person will have more money left in his hands. And when he has more money than before, he will also spend more. This will increase the spending capacity of middle class families and will bring new momentum to the country’s economy.

1-There are 4 lakh government employees in Delhi, who will be directly affected by this and will benefit from it.

2-This can affect the votes of 10 lakh government employees.

3-70 lakh women population can also have an impact on the votes.

4-Tax exemption can affect 67 percent of Delhi’s population. What do party leaders and experts say about Delhi elections-

How much will the budget and tax slab changes affect Delhi elections? In a media show ‘, BJP spokesperson Shivam Tyagi said that when the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government in 2014, even after 65 years of independence in this country, we used to pay tax on every income after Rs 2.5 lakh and we used to pay 10 percent tax in the slab of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Today we are not paying any tax up to Rs 12 lakh. After independence, no Prime Minister, no Finance Minister has brought such a big change for the middle class. This is not for the elections, this is for the country. This is for the middle class of the country and Delhi is a part of the country.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Anil Yadav said that the people of Delhi do not like arrogance. It is this public that brought the Aam Aadmi Party and it is this public that allowed the BJP to come. It is this public that will bring Congress in the coming elections. There was a time when the budget used to come, there was excitement in every section of society about what will we get, what will come for the youth this time, what will come for women, what will happen for farmers. But ever since this BJP government has come, the middle class trembles on hearing the name of the budget thinking that now they don’t know what will be taken out of their pockets. There is a huge difference between their words and actions.

About 45 percent of voters in Delhi are from the middle class. Has BJP influenced these voters with this budget? In response to this, political expert Ashutosh said that when we talk about the middle class, there are many categories in it. For example, the upper middle class in Delhi was associated with the Aam Aadmi Party movement and also supported the Aam Aadmi Party a lot, but today it is angry with AAP. But below that upper middle class, there is a middle class and a lower middle class. When we define the middle class, we keep a slab of five lakhs to 30 lakhs. In such a situation, the lower middle class and the marginalized class below it, who live in huts, are still with the Aam Aadmi Party. The change in the tax slab is not affecting the middle class, the lower middle class and the people living in huts. They feel that electricity and water are exempted, our education system has improved. Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Anurag Dhanda said that Arvind Kejriwal had demanded seven things for the middle class. One of these demands was worked upon because they had to do propaganda. They also added a twist in this that if you earn 12.5 lakhs then you will again be reduced to four lakhs and all the slabs will be applicable. We had said that you keep the education budget at 2%, increase it to 10, you keep the health budget at 2%, increase it to 10. What was the illegitimate demand in these? This is most useful for the middle class. It is useful for their children. It is useful for the elderly. They have announced it in the budget for other states including Bihar, but they have no respect for the people of Delhi. There is nothing in the budget for Delhi. Modi ji says to build 4 crore houses in the country but only 4700 of these were built in Delhi. They are not doing anything for Delhi during the elections, what will they do later?

Will the mood of the middle class change for Delhi elections?

According to experts, if the middle class finds the tax relief sufficient, then BJP can get direct benefit from it. However, AAP has a strong hold in Delhi, which is more popular among the lower, lower middle and middle middle class due to free electricity, water, education and health facilities. Even though the middle class has got relief from income tax relief, the election issues in Delhi are not just economic. Education, health, pollution and basic amenities are also big factors. Apart from this, local issues in Delhi like cleaning of Yamuna, safety of women and problems like traffic will also affect the election decisions.