AAP’s Lucky 51-Point Manifesto – Acceptability and Accountability in Voter’s hand

Tolerability of the voters and liability of the political party in power, will be on the top of individual’s agenda

While the odd figures are taken as anomalous but the Aam Aadmi Party has chose the lucky 51 figure while releasing its 51-Point Manifesto for the 2017 Assembly Polls in Punjab, prepared by the Punjab Dialogue Committee, for a modern, corruption-free and happy Punjab, touching almost all the major issues - employment, anti-drug campaign, education and sports.

The election manifestos deserve to be analyzed and debated in the media to put wiser the voters about the importance of its contents as there has a growing ideological convergence that leaves voters with very little to choose from.

Normally the release of election manifestos are treated as a ritual exercise in political rhetoric and promises contained in them nothing but irresponsible populism.

From the outlook, the party manifestos look like a piece of paper, just a simple document or just a world of words, with false promises but full of ideas than the editorial pages and problems being faced by the country.

It is also seen that the political parties often pay lip service to some ideas and make promises which they never fulfill but it is a very serious matter as majority of the voters are now educated youths and every next term in politics who pays lip service, would be a pretty serious business.

Aam Aadmi Party -AAP –who claims to be the best manifesto among all - has taken the lead in announcing its manifesto well in six month advance and the other two major parties – Congress and SAD-BJP alliance, would lose no time to release their manifestos so that voters’ mind is not set to the agenda released by the AAP. Since AAP has released its manifesto almost touching all the major burning issues of the state, the other parties will have to see that it is totally different 51-Point based on their feedback.

So far as the other small parties existing like BSP, CPI, they are not serious about the manifestos as they know that the fight will be between Congress, SAD-BJP and AAP. These parties cope with their political statements but such parties have their own fixed vote bank.

But the promises made in the manifestos make one wonder if anyone seriously worried how they could be implemented when they same have not been fulfilled in the past terms also.

Need of the hour is to have a debate on the manifestos and media should give sufficient space , to such proposals, so that the voters may make up their mind to bring the particular party in power. Lack of attention has meant that there is little public debate on the proposals that different political parties mention in their manifestos.

There has been growing ideological convergence that leaves voters with very little to choose from. This convergence began with a political consensus within the parties about the new economic policies for which every voter wait in the next elections. How it could be well with the manifestos when most of the policies of the state governments have come to accept the policies of liberalization, privatization and globalization? No doubt, the meeting of political parties on certain big policy issues educes surface political strife but it carries a big risk for the individuality of the party and closure of a real political debate.

Frankly speaking, a manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government with no accountability provisions in the eyes of law and party but there is hardly any acceptability and accountability. The voters are very intelligent now and will not forgive in the event of non-fulfillment of promises. There is no harm, if the Election Commission of India intervenes in accepting the standing of party on their performance as per the release of the manifesto for the next term but this time the suitability of the voters and liability of the political party in power, will be on the top of individual’s agenda.