Prior to the 2015 Delhi Assembly election, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal had pledged specifically to take action to address the enduring issue.

The leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal, who pledged to clean up the city's air before the 2015 Delhi Assembly election, now holds the Centre responsible while his ministers blame Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for the national capital's polluted air. Even after being in power for seven years, there has been no improvement in the situation beyond the usual rhetoric regarding pollution control.

Even though the Air Quality Index in some areas of the city has reached toxic levels of 700, this political ping-pong match continues.

The AAP leaders purposefully avoided bringing up Punjab, with the Delhi Chief Minister even going so far as to claim that insulting him or the Punjabi farmers would not solve the issue.

Kejriwal used the line "don't play politics on stubble burning" to argue that Punjab was unable to put an end to the practice because the "Union government did not cooperate."

If the BJP-led Union government was unable to address Delhi's pollution crisis, he urged it to resign.

On Tuesday, November 1, 2022, Delhi's environment minister, Gopal Rai, first put the blame for the poor air quality on the city's residents before criticizing the Union government, the states of UP and Haryana, and other governments for not doing enough to control pollution.

Because they were not carpooling or working from home, citizens were held accountable.

"Stubble burning is occurring in Punjab as a result of the Central government's rejection of the Punjab government's proposal to provide incentives to farmers to reduce stubble burning. As retaliation for the rallies (against farm legislation), the BJP is blaming farmers for burning stubble, claimed Rai.

He continued by emphasizing that the BJP's philosophy supported increased air pollution levels because the party supported the use of firecrackers.

By 2020, Kejriwal had pledged to upgrade the city's fleet of buses by at least 5,000. (in five years). In actuality, the Delhi Transport Corporation has 3,910 buses in its fleet. Included in this are the 150 brand-new electric buses that joined the fleet in May of this year—the first addition to the fleet in 11 years.

According to an affidavit submitted by the AAP government to the Delhi High Court, Delhi requires at least 11,000 buses. There were 6,342 buses in the DTC fleet in 2010–11.

Kejriwal's remarks prior to 2022

Kejriwal has been accusing the neighboring states since 2017 of turning Delhi into a gas chamber. He implemented the now-discontinued odd-even plan in 2016, which allowed vehicles with odd and even numbers to travel on alternate days around the city.

The National Air Quality Index statistics from the Central Pollution Control Board demonstrated the futility of the plan. It only brought about turmoil.

Kejriwal said that Punjabi stubble burning was the cause of Delhi's pollution in 2019. He had also asked the Punjab government, which was then run by the Congress, for a deadline for putting out the fires.

In an effort to lower the amount of particulate matter in the air, the AAP government constructed smog towers in 2021 at Connaught Place and Anand Vihar in Delhi for a combined cost of Rs 20 crore. There is no evidence to back up the notion that it is the quick remedy for the capital's year-round pollution issue.

AAP must respond to these five inquiries:

1. What have the Delhi and Punjab governments done to stop crop burning, except from blaming the Union government?

2. Of all the local sources in Delhi, vehicles are the main cause of pollution. What is the strategy for expanding integrated public transportation networks to reduce driving?

3. An integrated multi-sector regional strategy is required in all of the NCR's states in order to achieve the air quality target in Delhi. What has Arvind Kejriwal, the mayor of Delhi, done so far to win over other mayors?

4. In the Capital, industries were responsible for 9.9–13.7% of the air pollution. What steps have been taken to guarantee that PNG fuel is used in industries?

5. How effective has the 10-point winter action plan for reducing pollution been?