‘The Congress’s reasoning that lotus ponds can swing the poll in favour of the BJP, which has ‘lotus’ as its poll symbol, is ‘ridiculous’ and granting such a request would amount to undermining the intelligence of the voter,’ said a senior EC official. ‘Going by that argument, even handshakes should be banned as it could be interpreted as an act meant to disturb the level-playing field in favour of the Congress, which holds the ‘hand’ as poll symbol,’ he added.