It's raining handouts

Political parties must avoid reducing elections to one-upmanship on freebies

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EARLIER THIS MONTH, when the dates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls were announced, the chief election commissioner confessed that the panel's hands were tied on the thorny issue of "freebies" promised by political parties to voters. He also expressed difficulty to define it and sought legal, acceptable answers to what constitutes a freebie. In the absence of any legal diktat as yet, Delhi has given a free hand—as indeed have other states that held elections in the recent past—to parties attempting to outdo each other with a laundry list of handouts in their manifestos. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have made mirroring bids, some tinged with appeals to rival constituencies. The incumbent AAP was off the blocks with a promise of financial assistance to temple priests—lest it is perceived as indifferent to the clergy—apart from women and the elderly. It also promised to fund foreign education of students from underprivileged castes, and payments to its loyal base of autorickshaw drivers.