Lok Sabha Fight: BJP makes zero Congress reference in manifesto; Nyay Patra names ruling party 38 times

With both national parties BJP and the Congress having released their respective manifestos for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, a report by Kotak observes that the ruling party’s manifesto makes no mention of the Congress in its 76 pages, while the grand old party’s manifesto has 38/55 references to BJP/NDA in its 48 pages.

The report says, the above observation “possibly highlights the different mindset and position of the two parties—one of an incumbent and the other of a challenger.”

The election manifestos of the saffron party and the Congress reflect the visions of the incumbent and the challenger, with the BJP manifesto expectedly stressing its achievements in its past two terms and the Congress manifesto expectedly highlighting the deficits of the past 10 years and its own achievements in its two terms over 2004-14, the report says.


BJP manifesto, the report says, empahaised on continuation of existing policies, India as a global manufacturing hub and adequate social support for the needy.

Whereas the congress manifesto envisages the creation of jobs through a new economic policy and government-led employment, a legal guarantee for MSPs and cash transfers to the needy, education loan waiver and an increase in reservations.

According to another report by DBS Bank earlier, economists said that the ruling party’s manifesto will have limited fiscal implications while the grand old party’s measures will entail ‘significant costs to the economy'.

“Similar to the pre-poll interim Budget, where the central government prioritised prudence over populism, the manifesto signalled a continuation of existing reforms and social welfare schemes rather than lean towards new big-bang promises, which could carry significant fiscal costs,” economist Radhika Rao wrote in a report by DBS Bank.

BJP/NDA has 288/341 seats while the Congress has 42 seats in the Lok Sabha currently.