Manifestos of political parties should, ideally, be taken as a sacred document in a parliamentary democracy. It is a declaration of the party for the next five years. While the winning party is expected to make sincere efforts to fulfil commitments made in manifestos, the opposition, too, should strive to work as a pressure group for its compliance.

Last week, the Congress and the NCP coalition partners of the Democratic Front government that ruled the state from Oct 1999 to Sept 2014 unveiled two separate manifestos. For the general elections held in 2009, theirs was a joint manifesto, a 24-page document with a dedicated chapter on Mumbai’s development. But, now, Congress’s plans have no such mention. NCP’s manifesto has a few points on development of infrastructure for the city. Interestingly, the BJP and the Shiv Sena, erstwhile coalition partners, are yet to release their manifestos even as the state goes to polls in nine days. Joint manifestos are a thing of the past with the rupturing of the two major alliances.