India, Aug. 5 -- For months, Anju - a 44-year-old woman employed as a domestic help in west Delhi's Raghubir Nagar - has looked forward to the day she will start receiving a monthly sum of Rs.2,500 that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised in the run-up to the 2025 Delhi assembly elections.

So when the Delhi Lakshmi Yojana was finally rolled out on August 1, she reworked her schedule, telling her employers she would be late to work on Wednesday. Armed with her Aadhaar card, voter ID, and a passport-size photograph, Anju reached the office of the district magistrate of West District in Rajouri Garden around 9am, where dozens of other women stood in a queue to register.

"I thought I would be able to fill the form today, but I hav...