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Bharatiya Janata Party · 2014
Claim
Not supported by audit
Delivery
Not delivered
The institution exists on paper and does almost nothing. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was passed in 2013, before this promise; the first Lokpal chairperson was appointed only in March 2019, at the very end of the term — five years in which the post the manifesto promised to fill stayed vacant. The caseload since is the answer to whether it is 'effective': the Ministry of Personnel told Parliament on 25 March 2026 that complaints registered before the Lokpal were 149 in 2021-22, 320 in 2022-23, 166 in 2023-24, 292 in 2024-25 and 389 in 2025-26 to 28 February. For a national anti-corruption ombudsman with jurisdiction over the Prime Minister, ministers, MPs and all central government servants, a few hundred complaints a year is not a functioning institution.
“We will set-up an effective Lokpal institution. Corruption at any level will be dealt with firmly and swiftly.”No CAG performance audit published
No CAG performance audit covering this scheme has been published. The absence of an audit is not evidence that the claim is either accurate or inaccurate.
No CAG audit of the Lokpal has been tabled. The figures here are the administering ministry's own, given to Parliament.
No audit period to plot — no CAG performance audit covering this scheme has been published.
389 complaints registered and 336 disposed of in 2025-26 up to 28 February 2026
Disposal closely tracks registration each year, so the institution is not backlogged — the constraint is how few complaints reach it at all. The answer gives no figure for prosecutions sanctioned or convictions obtained.
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5330, Complaints Lodged in Lokpal — answer by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
The 2014 manifesto's promise on the anti-corruption ombudsman is two sentences in the governance chapter: "We will set-up an effective Lokpal institution. Corruption at any level will be dealt with firmly and swiftly."
The law already existed. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was passed in December 2013, four months before this manifesto, after the anti-corruption movement of 2011-13. What the promise required was appointment and operation.
Appointment took the whole term. The first Lokpal chairperson, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, was appointed in March 2019 — two months before the term ended, and after the Supreme Court had repeatedly pressed the government on the delay. For five years the office the manifesto promised to establish had nobody in it.
Effectiveness is measurable, and the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions supplied the measurement to the Lok Sabha on 25 March 2026. Complaints registered before the Lokpal: 149 in 2021-22, 320 in 2022-23, 166 in 2023-24, 292 in 2024-25, and 389 in 2025-26 up to 28 February. Complaints disposed of in the same years: 147, 316, 161, 260 and 336.
Set that against the Lokpal's jurisdiction. It covers the Prime Minister, union ministers, members of Parliament, and Group A, B, C and D officers of the central government — several million people. A few hundred complaints a year, in a country where corruption is a standing feature of public debate, is not evidence of an institution being used. Disposal tracking registration almost exactly each year confirms there is no backlog: the Lokpal is not overwhelmed, it is idle.
The answer does not report what happened after disposal — how many complaints led to a preliminary inquiry, how many to a direction to prosecute, how many to a conviction. Those are the numbers that would show whether corruption is being "dealt with firmly and swiftly", and they are not published in this answer.
A law already on the books, an office left vacant for five years, and an institution that handles fewer cases in a year than a district court handles in a week. Our verdict is not supported.
BJP Election Manifesto 2014 — Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat
“Our Pledge — Ek Bharat - Shreshtha Bharat: Vibrant and Participatory Democracy; Empowered and Inspired People; Inclusive and Sustainable Development; Quality life in Villages and Cities; Basic Amenities to All; Flourishing Agriculture; Productive Youth; Involved Women; Robust physical and social Infrastructure; Innovative and Technologically driven Society; Globally competitive Economy; Brand India built on Quality; Strong, Effective and Futuristic Institutions; Open, Transparent and Systems-based Government; Pro-active, Pro-people Good Governance.”
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5330, Complaints Lodged in Lokpal — answer by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
“The details of the number of complaints registered before Lokpal and disposed of by the Lokpal are stated below — 2025-26 (as on 28.02.2026): Complaints Registered 389, Complaints Disposed of 336; 2024-25: 292 registered, 260 disposed; 2023-24: 166 registered, 161 disposed; 2022-23: 320 registered, 316 disposed; 2021-22: 149 registered, 147 disposed. The year-wise details of complaints registered and disposed of are available in the public domain through dedicated website of the Lokpal.”