On February 14, 2015, following the landmark victory in Delhi Assembly Elections, grabbing 67 of the total 70 seats, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – which called for ‘alternative politics’ and spoke of its commitment towards the common man – formed government in Delhi. Today, as the party completes one full year in office, The Hindu presents the AAP-Meter, where we have tracked the status of all the pre-poll promises made by AAP to the people of Delhi in its election manifesto.
AAP’s manifesto – formed as a result of the Delhi Dialogue – itself states: “Over time, party manifestos have been reduced to insincere pledges promising everything to everybody, with very little follow-up or delivery after attainment of power. However, this is where AAP crucially differs from other parties because for us politics is an interactive process, a constant dialogue.”
And indeed, for a democratic system to foster, the government must be held accountable for the pre-poll promises.
For analysis, the 70 point Action plan drawn by the AAP for Delhi, was broken down into 90 points. Based on the work done – which was evaluated after gathering information from advisors to cabinet ministers, press releases and news reports – every promise, excluding 12 which were either too generic or difficult to assess, was assigned one of these statuses:
‘Fulfilled’, ‘Under Progress’, ‘Yet to Start’, ‘Wishlist’ (not under the Delhi government’s jurisdiction), ‘Stalled’ or ‘Broken’.
Of the 78, the government has fulfilled 18 promises in the first year, which includes legislation of the Jan Lokpal Bill, reducing the electricity bills to half, providing free lifeline water up to 20 kiloliters and increased spending on education and healthcare. Most of the fulfilled promises were policy and paper-work driven.
Work is under progress for 29 promises, including setting up of 500 new government schools, expanding bus services, combating pollution, empowering the disabled and providing all residents of Delhi with piped water. Most promises falling under this category are long term projects, primarily concerned with systemic changes or infrastructure development.
But work is yet to start for 24 promises. This includes key poll promises of making Wi-Fi freely available in public spaces, creating 8 lakh jobs, installing more than 10 lakh CCTV cameras for security, operationalizing 47 new fast-track courts for speedy justice and setting up twenty new degree colleges.
On two promises, the government has missed its own deadline. While the government has made attempts to incorporate the spirit of Swaraj, the Swaraj Act has not yet been passed, though it was promised to be done immediately after attaining power. Also, the government has not been able to ‘regularize all unauthorised colonies within a year’, where work in under progress.
