India, Nov. 24 -- Bihar has delivered a result that was less an election and more a demonstration of how power scripts the rules. The NDA has won, yes. But the real story lies in how the field was tilted long before the first vote was cast.

Freebies worth thousands were handed out to women in the weeks leading up to polling. Cash transfers were pushed as "welfare," though everyone knew what was happening. When ?10,000 is deposited into a woman's account days before voting, it is not welfare; it is inducement dressed as policy. The Election Commission looked away. It did not ask questions. It did not enforce the MCC. It simply watched as the ruling party used public money as electoral currency.

Then came the Special Intensive Revision. A...