Polemic Poll Promises

When the political parties of TamilNadu gave their election promises, I felt something positive about them despite the promises sounding unrealistic. From weeks of playing the blame game, the parties at last started to market on their potential, if I can call that, rather than on the other party’s weaknesses. But then, the theme of their propaganda seems to have reverted this week. If last week's theme was "Poll Promises", then this week's theme is "Who broke the promise first". It is once again the same age old blame game with the parties saying, "They broke their previous election’s promise". Unfortunately no one is able to claim, "... and we haven't broken ours".

Thinking about it, isn't breaking a promise equivalent to cheating? Then why not make the politicians legally bound to their promises? Afterall they do swear in front of big audiences on their poll promises. I understand that the parties might end-up passing the buck to the externalities involved in implementing any policy change. But let them fight it out in the courts rather than taking comfort at the fact that their promises are currently written on thin air.