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NAME OF THE NEWSPAPER DATE: . ,..8 MAh 2012'THE HINDU

Election verdictThe clear verdict in favour ofMulayam Singh Yadav in D.P.points to the gradual demise ofsocial engineering. It appears to bea sequel to the Bihar verdictfavouring Nitish Kumar. WhetherU.P. will emerge with a changedpicture or not, only time will telLBut we surely have reason tocelebrate as people have begun toshift their focus from caste todevelopment. Such awareness will,hopefully, be contagious andensure transparent andresponsible politics.

AmitKumar,New Delhi

A 'mini' general election - aprelude to 2014 - has justconcluded. Television newschannels will be happy that theirexit poll results were more or lesscorrect. In the largest State, peoplehave proved that they do not getcarried away by the politics of casteand religion. They have given aclear mandate to the SP, for whichwe should congratulate them.'Yuvraj' Rahul's performance didnot help the Congress, despite thehype created by his party and themedia.

v. Tilak Subramanian,Chennai

The impact of the SP's clean sweepis sure to work wonders for the

S.Ganesh,Chennai

young, aspmng Akhilesh Yadav.His performance should inspirepolitical parties to field youngleaders in the 2014 generalelections. It is time young leaderslike him took charge and led fromthe front with development as theparamount objective.

Varun Dambal,Bangalore

Election 2012 has shown us thatregime change occurs not whenrulers are overthrown but whenone regime replaces another. Thiswas the trend Italian socialscientist Vilfredo Pareto describedas "the circulation of elite." Therole of ordinary people in suchtransformation is that of initiatorsor principal actors, who assessthose who come to the front andconnect with the masses with aclear vision of development.

The SP's victory in U.P. offers an

insight into what could be workingon the psyche of the masses. Peoplewant a system which works on theprinciple of equality and for theuplift ofthe weaker sections.

Binod Bhattarai,Puducherry

The result is proof enough that theIndian voter is becoming morediscerning. I recall, as a young boy,hearing Jawaharlal Nehru speak atthe Island Grounds in November1951. He said he was people'sservant and that the voter couldtweak his ears if he didn't do whatthey wanted.

With the Election Commissiontaking more effective steps insuccessive elections and the votersbecoming educated, Nehru'sdream will be fulfilled, slowly butsurely.

Election Commission of India 32-~~~~~~~~n~o~~~ErnR~~~~~DA~T~E: ~8MARro'2

,.Voters are intelligent

Sir - The results of the recently concludedAssembly elections in Uttar Pradesh andfour other States where polling was at anall-time high clearly establishes the peo-ple's faith in democracy. The ElectionCommission deserves praise for peacefulconduct of the polls and for creating aware-ness among voters to exercise their fran-chise. People have voted for good and sta-ble governance, development and againstcorruption. Political parties that have astrong local leadership and projectedprospective Chief Ministers havedone well.

The BJP should revamp its partymachinery in Uttar Pradesh, get rid ofspent force and project new and dynam-ic leaders at local and national levels. Itshould have projected Uma Bharati as itsChief Ministerial candidate. The Congressleadership too should introspect sincere-ly, get rid of the sycophants and restoreinner-party democracy.

N RamamurthyChennai

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Time to deliverWith reference to the editorial 'ElephantTrampled' (March 7), the end of Mayawati'sautocratic and corrupt administration in UP iswelcome. The results reinforce the politicalmaturity ofthe electorate in penalising poorgovernance. Now, the big challenge fortheSamajwadi Party is to deliver on its electoralpromises. The editorial has rightly pointedout that winning an election and meeting theaspirations ofthe people who have reposedfaith, are two difterentthings and the Samaj- ..wadis would do well to focus on the latter.

The Congress not only paid for its lack oforganisation but also its arrogant leaderswho went about flouting the EC'scode ofconduct. The party's problems are furthercompounded by the disappointing show inPunjab and, to a lesser extent, in Uttarakhand.If anything, it is a pointerto its waning for-tunes, an outcome of its disastrous perform-ance at the Centre and policy paralysis.

Shashank Bendre, VIA EMAll"'-- .•..•...•-...--..-

NAME OF THE NEWSPAPER DATE:THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Voter's demand.THE assembly results showthat voters are not interestedin a temple or hollowpromises. They want devel-opment with concrete results,and thereby improve their lot.The issue of corruption, whichhad assumed national impor-tance, has also been takenseriously by voters. Theycomprehensively assessedthe work of outgoi ng govern-ments on issues like sadak,pani, bijli, etc, choosing topunish the inefficient and thecorrupt.

- P.R.A. NairNew Delhi

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NAME OF THE NEWSPAPER DATE:THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Regional, dubious?.THIS refers to the editorial'The defeat' (IE,March 7).Regional parties are winningelections because oftheirpork-barrel politics and otherdubious tactics rather thantheir leaders' credibility andlong-term policies to tacklepoverty, illiteracy andbackwardness. The nationalparties' blinkered approach isalso helping regional politicalsatraps. But what's to benoted is that many regionalleaders, despite hav.ingcasesregistered against them, aregetting elected. This doesn'tshow the maturity of ourdemocracy. The victory ofregional parties isa matter ofconcern.

- Tarsem SinghNew Delhi

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