Vote them out

• The Indian Express deserves all the praise and respect of people/prospective voters for its bold and time...

• The Indian Express deserves all the praise and respect of people/prospective voters for its bold and timely action in publishing the list of MPs defaulting on their telephone bills. The electorate in turn must be given the option to reject the candidature of such politicians. Accordingly, the Election Commission should be allowed to modify the electronic voting machines to allow the voter to register his or her disapproval.

— B.N. Pathak On e-mail

Changing allies

• US Secretary of State Colin Powell has added significance to his visit to the subcontinent by designating Pakistan a major non-NATO ally (‘Pak will be major non-NATO ally, we want same ties with India’, IE, March 19) .
For one, this development will truly render NAM irrelevant. In any case, America must ensure that its upgradation of military ties with Pakistan does not hamper the fragile India-Pakistan peace process.

— Deepak K. Vidhyarthi On e-mail

Multiple choices

• This refers to ‘Hema, Meena, Deeka…’ by Pamela Philipose (IE, February 27). The writer is absolutely right when she says that Hema Malini should answer questions relating to Ayodhya, Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code. In fact, these questions should to posed to all those who are joining the BJP on the eve of the general elections — for example, Arif Mohammed Khan. As they should be to all those leaving the BJP and joining non-NDA parties. Otherwise our electoral process will be drained of all ideological content.

— Sachin Pilankar Mumbai

Drop the bowler

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• Great article by Harsha Bhogle (‘Wanted: Circuit-breakers for cricket’, IE, March 19). I support his call for pitches and cricket conditions that would assist the bowlers too. The mindless run-hitting is getting way too boring. If we continue this way, the team would be better off fielding 10 batsmen and a wicketkeeper!

— Neeraj Balani On e-mail

• In spite of the fact that the bowlers have been on the receiving end, it cannot be denied that they decided the outcome of the first two India-Pakistan one-day internationals.

— Anand On e-mail

In other words

• You deserve congratulations for your tongue-in-cheek justification of hoardings of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee along the highways in your editorial ‘Veiling Vajpayee’ (March 18). If the Election Commission discourages such practices today, I am sure that future governments won’t waste public money on such publicity attempts.

— Rajiv Ahuja Parwanoo

Comparing greatness

• Mani Shankar Aiyar’s article ‘Vajpayee is not Nehru’ (IE, March 16) had too much spin. There is no denying that Nehru was a great leader of men. But it is difficult to understand what the writer has against cross-communal alliances. For instance, Mookherjee’s alliance with Fazlul Haq of Bengal was much better than Nehru’s own alliance with the Khilafatists.

— Yasser Latif Hamdani On e-mail

outside the RJD party office in Patna on Friday. Partners of the alliance filed nomination papers for all 121 seats going to polls in the first phase – the total strength of the Bihar House is 243 – while talks continued to end the deadlock over seats.

Mahagathbandhan parties fail to seal Bihar pact, field own candidates for Phase 1

Political Pulse3 hr ago

Opposition Mahagathbandhan in Bihar failed to announce a seat-sharing pact as nominations closed for the first phase of Assembly elections. Talks are ongoing to end the deadlock over seats, with over a dozen constituencies still in dispute. The alliance has released lists of candidates, with RJD reportedly contesting 130-135 seats and Congress around 60.

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