New Delhi: In a historic mandate, Delhi based Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has swept the election in India’s border state of Punjab with a thumping majority. The party, which was born out of an anti-corruption movement led by anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, has won 92 of 117 seats that went to the poll in the assembly elections, which is more than three-fourth seats in the new assembly.
Aam Aadmi Party Chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said it was the success of Delhi model implemented by the party in the national capital as the city government was able to fix the problems in the education and health sectors that impressed the Punjab voters leading to the spectacular victory in the border state. Kejriwal said the new Punjab government, which would be led by its chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Singh Mann, would replicate the Delhi model in Punjab as well.
However, governing a Union territory Delhi which has a legislature and budget of its own but is also dependent on the Centre for several things and governing a full-fledged state such as Punjab is quite different. In Delhi, the Centre is responsible for public order, police and land. Delhi Police works directly under the supervision of the Union ministry of Home Affairs while the Centre also controls allotment of land through its dedicated agency Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
Also read: AAP sweeps Punjab: Key factors that led to the defeat of political stalwarts
Delhi vs Punjab economy
While Delhi’s GDP is estimated to be at around Rs 8 lakh crore in FY 2021-22 with an annual budget of Rs 69,000 crore, Punjab’s GDP for the same fiscal has been estimated at around Rs 6.08 lakh crore but its total budgeted expenditure for the year has been estimated at over Rs 1.68 lakh crore, which is nearly 2.5 times of Delhi’s budgeted expenditure for the year. Per capita income in Delhi has been estimated to be over Rs 2.84 lakh per year in FY 2020-21, in Punjab it was around Rs 1.1 lakh per person in the same fiscal.
In Punjab, as per the budget estimates for FY 2021-22, the government's committed expenditure on account of salaries, pensions and interest payment was estimated to be at around Rs 59,796 crore which is 63% of its total revenue receipts. It includes salaries at around Rs 27,714 crore, pensions at around Rs 11,767 crore and interest payment at around Rs 20,316 crore.
Whereas in Delhi, the committed expenditure or its revenue expenditure is estimated at around Rs 52,000 crore for FY 2021-22, which is more than three-fourth of its total budgeted expenditure of Rs 69,000 for the year.
Different dynamics of budget management
In Delhi, the city government was able to spend a significant amount on health and education sectors as the budget on policing has been incurred by the Union government.
In Punjab, the state government incurs the budget on police force which will reduce the amount of resources available to the state government for other welfare measures such as education and health but it will also have an additional source of revenue as the revenue receipts from land allotment and land registration and transfers are part of state exchequer.
