Fuel Prices & Elections: When Rates Went Up After Voting And When They Didn’t

Last Updated:April 28, 2026, 14:51 IST

While the government has dismissed the fuel hike report as, there is a visible pattern when prices were kept stable or even reduce them in the run-up to elections to woo voters.

With less than a week left for the announcement of the assembly elections results of five states, there are speculations that fuel prices will go up in the wake of a big hike in Brent crude due to the West Asia war.

A report, released by Kotak Institutional Equities last week, warned of a hike of Rs 25–28 per litre on petrol and diesel as elevated crude prices put pressure on oil marketing companies. While the government has dismissed the report as “mischievous and misleading", there is a visible pattern when governments often keep prices stable or even reduce them in the run-up to elections to woo voters, only to hike later. However, this pattern has not been uniform, with notable exceptions in recent years when prices remained frozen even after polls.

Akhilesh Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party is the third-largest party in the Lok Sabha, has claimed that the BJP-led NDA government is likely to raise prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas, and fertilisers after elections in five states.

The Classic Post-Election Hike Pattern

2018 Karnataka Assembly Elections: Following the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election, fuel prices in India resumed their upward trajectory on May 14, 2018—just two days after polling concluded—bringing an end to a nearly 19-day hiatus during which rates had remained unchanged despite rising global crude oil prices.

2019 Lok Sabha Polls: The tendency for fuel price increases soon after elections has been observed multiple times in the past. Fuel prices were frozen for nearly 30 days during the peak of the 2019 general election campaign. But as soon as the voting concluded, petrol and diesel prices started rising from the very next day.

2022 Assembly Elections: Five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur, went to the polls in the first half of 2022. Despite rising crude oil prices internationally due to the Russia-Ukraine war, prices were kept stable. But after the results, prices saw multiple upward revisions.

2021 Assembly Elections: Polling in five states, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry and Kerala, were followed by an immediate resumption of daily hikes. Prices had remained unchanged for 18 days during the polls, only to rise starting May 4, with several consecutive increases.

2024 Lok Sabha Election: The government announced a Rs 2 per litre cut across India in March 2024, just before the Model Code of Conduct kicked in for the 2024 polls.

When Fuel Prices Didn’t Rise After Polls

Even after the 2024 Indian general election, there was widespread speculation that fuel prices would be increased once polling concluded. However, those expectations did not materialise, with prices largely remaining unchanged in the immediate aftermath.

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