MCD Election Manifestos Promise Housing, Infra, Sanitation

Filthy streets, dengue, chikungunya, corruption, taxes — the manifestos of political parties contesting for Municipal Corporation of Delhi or MCD elections are promising to make the national capital green and healthy again. For obvious reasons, the upcoming MCD polls have attracted a lot of media frenzy. While the voters are more concerned about the cleanliness and civic management of the city than the leadership, this time all of the contesting parties have promised that their vision post-poll won't change. Here are few poll promises that are high on political agenda of the participating candidates.

Relaxation in construction approvals, limited taxes

One of the national parties has promised to do away with the building plans approval for the plots measuring up to 500 sq mt which are currently 105 sq mt while other parties are claiming  not to levy any new taxes and even cut down the existing house tax. The motive is to bring effective system for tax collection. One of the regional parties of the state have gone over the edge and promised to waive off the house tax if they win.

Regularisation of colonies

Though regularisation of unauthorised colonies was the main agenda of Delhi elections in 2015 as well, MCD elections are being fought on almost same issues.  One of the national parties has claimed to earmark Rs 2,000 cr for regularisation of unauthorised colonies and for the speeding up the process. This also includes slum rehabilitation and redeveloping them into a housing complex.

Cleanliness to be the main agenda

While real estate regulation and regularising illegal colonies have been pushed in only a few manifestos, sanitation and cleanliness have been a major issue for all political parties. One of the main contesting parties who is struggling to be in power for long has promised to identify five lakh street vendors to register with licenses and all sanitation workers which are currently on adhoc basis will be regularised in next two years. Another participating party has ensured hiring of more employees for cleaning task. Along with this, regular cleaning of drains, removal of landfills and eradication of chikungunya and dengue are few other promises being made to sway votes in their favour. 

Tackling poverty, better infrastructure, completion of pending projects which have been delayed for more than 5 years are some of the main talking points. However, it will be a matter of wait and watch whether any of these contesting parties will stand strong on their claims or will these continue to remain pre-poll promises like every time

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