Sir — For the first time at a polling booth, I saw the ‘Voter’s Pledge’ being promoted by the Election Commission of India. It forces us to lie by making us promise to vote “without being influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community, language or any inducement”.
All the national parties, be it the Congress or the BJP, and the regional outfits, from the Samajwadi Party to the Bahujan Samaj Party to the communists and the Trinamool Congress, and to the Dravidian outfits, prosper by practising at least one of the considerations which the poll panel wants voters to shun. The Election Commission should either set the parties right or junk the farcical pledge.