EC and the Aadhaar

Pious administrative orthodoxy echoes in the article (“Scripting clean polls, via Aadhaar,” Oct.1). Elections in India, mammoth exercises costing huge sums of money, have turned out to be futile acts. Every factor — caste politics, corruption, religion and coercion — that our Founding Fathers wanted to eschew while scripting the Constitution figure prominently in the polls. It is not the citizen who chooses a representative, it is more the politicians who have the final say. Even if a citizen holds an Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC), who induces him and who benefits? It is the political party that wins in his area.

N.S.Venkatesan,

Chennai

Urbanisation and seasonal migration are not the only causes of multiple and bogus enrolment; migration from neighbouring countries also poses a big problem. For example, people from Bangladesh migrate to West Bengal and local political parties attempt to buy their votes.

Deepak Gehlot,

Kharagpur

The Election Commission is an autonomous body which has successfully carried out general elections as well as Assembly elections, following the principles of impartiality, probity and non-partisanship. As advocated by the article, Aadhaar card can be made mandatory, not just for polls but also for subsidies to ensure greater transparency.

Ayodhya Prasad,

Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh