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Bharatiya Janata Party · 2019
Claim
Lacks context
Delivery
Delivered
The legal machinery was strengthened as described, and the numbers behind the headline conviction rate deserve reading closely. The NIA (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed within months of the manifesto, empowering the agency to investigate scheduled offences committed abroad by or against Indians; the UAPA was amended the same year to allow individuals, not only organisations, to be designated terrorists. The Ministry of Home Affairs told Parliament on 2 December 2025 that the NIA has 'a conviction rate of 92.44% in judgements pronounced in 172 cases (out of the total 692 registered cases since its inception)' and that 23 organisations have been declared unlawful associations in five years. The conviction rate is calculated on the quarter of cases that have reached judgment; 520 of 692 registered cases have not.
“Our security doctrine will be guided by our national security interest only. This is exemplified by the Surgical Strikes and the Air Strikes carried out recently. We will firmly continue our policy of 'Zero Tolerance' against terrorism and extremism and will continue to follow our policy of giving a free hand to our security forces in combating terrorism.”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 National Investigation Agency has been tabled. Counter-terrorism operational detail is legitimately withheld, which limits what a public assessment can establish.
No audit period to plot — no CAG performance audit covering this scheme has been published.
692 cases registered since inception, judgment pronounced in 172, conviction rate 92.44 per cent; 23 organisations declared unlawful associations in five years
The answer gives no figure for individuals designated as terrorists under the amended UAPA, for persons held in pre-trial detention, or for how long cases take to reach judgment.
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 239, National Investigation Agency — answer by the Ministry of Home Affairs
A note on the claim. This entry was imported as a promise to strengthen the NIA and expand the UAPA to designate individual terrorists. Neither the agency nor the Act is named in the 2019 manifesto. What it says, under "Zero-Tolerance Approach to Terrorism", is: "We will firmly continue our policy of 'Zero Tolerance' against terrorism and extremism and will continue to follow our policy of giving a free hand to our security forces in combating terrorism."
The legislative action that followed did what the imported claim described, and it came fast. The NIA (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed in July 2019, and the Ministry of Home Affairs describes its effect: it empowered the agency "to investigate scheduled offences involving Indian citizens or Indian interests that are committed outside India". The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act of the same month allowed the government to designate an individual as a terrorist, a power that had previously applied only to organisations.
On results, the ministry gives one headline figure: the NIA has "a conviction rate of 92.44% in judgements pronounced in 172 cases (out of the total 692 registered cases since its inception)."
Both halves of that sentence matter. A 92.44 per cent conviction rate is high by any standard. It is calculated on 172 cases in which judgment has been pronounced — a quarter of the 692 registered since 2009. The other 520 are pending at some stage, and in cases under the UAPA the pre-trial period is itself the punishment: bail is severely restricted under Section 43D(5), and accused persons have spent years in custody before acquittal. The answer reports no figure for pending duration, for undertrial detention, or for acquittals.
On the UAPA designation power the imported claim named, the answer gives numbers only for organisations: "in the last five years, the Government has declared 23 organizations as Unlawful Associations." How many individuals have been designated as terrorists under the amended Act is not stated.
Two boundaries this fact-check will not cross. Counter-terrorism operations cannot be publicly audited, and we do not treat the absence of operational detail as a failing. And the manifesto's claim about surgical strikes and air strikes is a statement about past events, not a promise, and is outside what this corpus grades.
The promise was to continue a policy, and the policy was continued and legislated. What the record does not show is the cost side — how many of the 520 pending cases involve people held without trial, and how many end in acquittal. Our verdict is lacks context.
BJP Sankalp Patra 2019 — Lok Sabha election manifesto
“Through this Sankalp Patra, you would get a glimpse of the challenges of the yesteryears, the indomitable efforts made by 130 crore Indians to overcome those challenges and our collective vision for the future… There are two commitments that I am extremely passionate about — doubling of farmer income and housing for all, by the year 2022.”
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 239, National Investigation Agency — answer by the Ministry of Home Affairs
“The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was set up under the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 as a Central Counter Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks… The Government has empowered the NIA through 'NIA (Amendment) Act, 2019', to investigate scheduled offences involving Indian citizens or Indian interests that are committed outside India… NIA has now emerged as a globally renowned investigative agency, with a conviction rate of 92.44% in judgements pronounced in 172 cases (out of the total 692 registered cases since its inception)… The Government of India has taken continuous and stringent action against various organizations found to be involved in unlawful activities in accordance with the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Accordingly, in the last five years, the Government has declared 23 organizations as Unlawful Associations.”