New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 45-page election manifesto or the 'Sankalp Patra', which will be party's vision document for the governance if it is elected to power was made with the help of over 5.3 lakh peoples' suggestions received online.

Much before the Lok Sabha election 2019 were announced, the BJP started reaching out to citizens of the country to understand the issues faced by them. The process was part of collecting public opinion on various subjects so that they could be incorporated in its manifesto. 

BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar signed up as verified "decision maker" with Change.org, an online petition platform, to crowdsource suggestions for their election manifesto.

According to Change.org, the people of the country responded overwhelmingly with over 244 petitions addressed to him and over 5.3 lakh people participated in various issues and gave suggestions on varied social topics. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 11 launched BJP's manifesto which included promises of making India the third largest economy of the world by 2030, Ram Mandir, doubling farmers' income and abrogation of Article 35A among several other clauses.

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An election manifesto is a roadmap of what a party will work on for the next five years if they are elected to power. The BJP's Sankalp Patra has 75 resolutions on agriculture, health, women youth and education, infrastructure, culture heritage, railways, economy and good governance. 

Through the online platform, people have raised a range of issues like child right, environment, education and even adulteration. The online platform enabled the party to establish a dialogue with the citizen and know their real issues.