Several Resident Welfare Associations (RWA’s) in the capital have stressed on the need of making pre poll promises in the menifesto’s having legal binding as soon as a single party wins the election.

“ Currently full time is spent by political parties including BJP, Congress and AAP to woo RWA’s to come forward to give suggestions and help formulate Manifesto’s But as soon that will help political parties to better understand what Citizens really want. However, they are under no obligation to keep these promises and all too often all promises and pledges made during the elections are ignored or broken”said angry Rajiv Kakria of GK 1 RWA.

“Manifesto’s have become a JOKE and there is nothing in Law that binds Political parties to fulfill the promises made. This has led to a considerable erosion of public trust in politicians. We want to reverse this trend by making manifestos a contract between government and state. Should a single party win a majority at election, their manifesto should become a legally binding document and all promises must be kept – with the party leader being directly accountable for any violations and strict penalties being applied” said Mr Kakria.

“Should such a law be passed, more thought would have to go into the writing of manifestos to prevent inclusion of unrealistic pledges and voter confidence would be restored. This will also help political parties do research before making any pre poll pledges which they cannot implement “said Mr V.N.Bali, President, RWA Federation, Delhi East.

“Most of manifestos consist of vague meaningless promises aimed at wooing particular section of society like auto drivers, illegal colony residents , vendors. More over these promises are made to be fulfilled with public money, whether it is free water, subsidized power etc. Binding these menifesto’s legally will discourage parties from making specific pledges in the first place. If a clear manifesto pledge is broken, a Government has no business staying in power in my opinion. Make the manifestos legally binding and limiting, and make breaches automatic grounds for a dissolution of assembly and a fresh election.” said Varinder Arora , convenor, Delhi Residents Forum.

“Major unforeseeable issues should be put before the people in a referendum and the onus would be on parties to provide manifestos worthy of the people- a positive change from the current position, where the onus is on the public” he added.

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