Letters: Election bribes are a loss

This refers to Vivek Dehejia's column "The 'true' cost of elections" (Marginalia, May 20).

It is unrealistic to suppose that the Indian "rational" voter will be uninfluenced by money and vote according to his conscience, when we have a third of our elected representatives in Lok Sabha have criminal records. Those who offer money do not leave the voters alone and keep chasing them. Since the beneficiaries are generally poor, they are vulnerable to such coercion.

Besides, the bribe need not be used for meaningful purposes by the voter. If it is spent on drinking or gambling, it will not be costless redistribution but involve social cost.

Y G Chouksey Pune

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