400 free electricity units: Congress makes big poll promise for Delhi, after BJP pledges to continue AAP schemes

The Congress party has promised free electricity up to 400 units each month if it assumes power in Delhi in the upcoming assembly elections.

The party's city chief, Devender Yadav said in a statement on December 3 that the Congress would also implement strict checks and balances to stop discoms from ‘looting’ consumers with inflated power bills.

This comes a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that it will continue the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's free electricity, water subsidies and and free bus rides for women should it come to power in the national capital in the upcoming assembly elections.

The AAP-led Delhi government currently provides free electricity up to 200 units a month. Under the existing free electricity scheme, the Delhi government provides free electricity to consumers with a monthly consumption of 200 units. Whereas, a 50 per cent subsidy is given to people with a consumption of 201-400 units of electricity.

The free electricity bill scheme has benefited nearly 4.94 million households in 2022-23. The government has kept a provision of ₹3,250 crore for the 2023-24 financial year (FY) for the scheme.

Addressing participants at the Delhi Nyay Yatra in the Kirari assembly segment, Yadav said the Congress fulfilled all its election promises in every state the party assumed power.

Yadav accused AAP supremo and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal of reeling out “devised excuses” for his failure to execute the free schemes and blaming the lieutenant governor and others for his own incompetence to translate words into action.

“Kejriwal had promised to transform Delhi into Paris and London. He had claimed before the 2022 Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections that AAP would clear the three garbage mounds in the national capital as soon as it was elected to power in those polls,” the Congress leader claimed.

However, Yadav alleged that garbage remains strewn everywhere, making people's lives miserable.

Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly are due in February. AAP won the past two elections in Delhi with a brute majority.

BJP promises to retain free electricity too

South Delhi Member of Parliament (MP) and chairman of the BJP's manifesto committee for Delhi assembly elections, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, said on December 2 that the party would start gathering public feedback for the manifesto through meetings with various sections of society.

In response to the BJP leader's claim, AAP said the BJP has habit of making tall promises before polls but, once in power, it dismissed those as "electoral jumlas".

"If the BJP is copying our schemes and claiming it will deliver the same services as AAP did, why would the people of Delhi settle for a duplicate? They will choose the original Arvind Kejriwal, who has already proven he delivers what he promises," AAP said, according to news agency PTI.