NEW DELHI: BJP vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe headed Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC) has taken the Right to Information (RTI) route to prepare performance reports on poll-bound states — Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Delhi.
As tasked and advised by former organisational secretary Ram Lal to not bank solely on the information provided by party units in states, the PPRC filed 206 RTI applications to gather data on promises made by the party in 2014.
An eight-member PPRC team started work to compile data on delivery against promises made in the manifestos in the four states. The Jharkhand and Delhi poll schedule is yet to be announced.
“At PPRC, we engage in scientific research with authentic data which RTI’s will help elicit and outcomes would be open to scrutiny. Such data will help the electorate to compare rival parties on the basis of their delivery,” said Director Dr Sumeet Bhasin.
The team took the RTI team to probe specific subjects on which the BJP state governments were not forthcoming.
“We were surprised on a few occasions to receive phone calls from RTI cells of Maharashtra and Delhi governments, enquiring whether we needed more information or clarifications,” said a PPRC member.
However, on occasions, team members were asked to physically come and collect data at short notice, while in a few cases, no information was received. “At the poll time, parties issue manifestos, but in the age of social media the PPRC exercise aims to empower the electorate with authentic information to make informed choices,” added Bhasin.