When Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday rained power promises on Uttar Pradesh electorates, he was following a set pattern that politicians have followed across the country as a potent method to acquire power in elections.
Akhilesh Yadav promised more relief than anticipated and regular cheap electricity to agriculture, households, industries and businesses, making SP the third political party in UP to hand out power doles to people in the run-up to the polls.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is fighting state polls in Punjab in alliance with the BSP, has already promised 400 power units of electricity free of cost to residential consumers across all categories. Of its nine key promises, Priyanka Gandhi-led Congress has promised to reduce electricity bills to half and waive off pending bills of the Covid-19 period.
The Power-to-Politics route was most successfully followed by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), first in the 2013 Delhi Assembly polls and it has repeated it since then.
Congress, which had refused to fall for it then, had revised its poll strategy in 2015 Delhi polls, making promises on the power front but the move came late and AAP romped home again.
This election season, AAP has again sought to hard-sell its Delhi power prescription to electrify its supporters in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa.
While in UP, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia exhorted people to vote AAP in 2022 polls to "end the era of darkness", promising to provide 300 units of free electricity to all domestic consumers "within 24 hours" after forming the government; its promise in Uttarakhand also included waiving of old bills and giving free electricity to farmers.
Sisodia also compared power supply in the two-BJP ruled states with that of in AAP-ruled Delhi. The ruling BJP government in Uttarakhand was also forced to announce that it will give free electricity up to 100 units to domestic consumers.
In UP, CM Yogi Adityanath this month made an ambitious promise of providing 24x7 power to residents including in rural areas where electricity supply is currently pegged at 18 hours a day.
In Punjab, where AAP is trying hard to revive its 2014 Lok Sabha poll fortune, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been repeatedly assuring that power will be free, regular and there will be no cuts, reminding voters how power cuts are now a passe in Delhi.
In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, promises for cheap power had found a mention in the manifesto of both Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
"Electricity affects the most significant chunks of voters — the farmers and the common man. After drinking water, the second most important item in people's day-to-day life is power and hence, any delivery on it is bound to benefit, whichever party makes any credible move. Kejriwal having already done it in Delhi, gives him the first-mover benefit more than any other party but any party with no organisation basis can't ride to power simply on power promise," says political analyst Rasheed Kidwai.
Check out DH's latest videos