The Election Commission has proposed that political parties should declare what the promises made in their manifestos would cost the exchequer and how they intended to pay for them, if elected to power.
They have clarified that this was not linked to the recent debate on freebies but was aimed at improving the implementation of existing guidelines.
This development has elicited sharp reactions from many opposition parties.
In this episode of Talking Politics, Nistula Hebbar breaks down the details of the Election Commission's proposal and its political implications.
