New Delhi, June 3 (Reporter) Hours before the counting of votes, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday urged the bureaucrats to adhere to the Constitution and perform their duties without any fear, favour, or ill-will against anybody. In a letter to civil servants and officers, Kharge said, "We expect every bureaucrat and officer, from top to bottom of the hierarchy, to discharge their duties in the spirit of the Constitution, without any coercion, threat, pressure, or intimidation either from the ruling party/coalition or from the opposition party/coalition". Kharge said that he was writing this letter in the capacity of the Leader of the Opposition (Rajya Sabha) and as President of the Indian National Congress. While calling the ‘Will of the People’ supreme, Kharge said that the people of the country want the Indian bureaucracy to return to the same ‘Steel Frame of India’ envisaged by Sardar Patel, which has been Teflon-coated by our strong constitutional principles that have stood the test of time. "Do not bow down to any unconstitutional means. Do not be afraid of anyone, and discharge your duties based on merit on this counting day. We owe it to future generations, a vibrant Democracy and a long-lasting constitution, as penned by the makers of modern India," Kharge said. The Rajya Sabha MP said, "The last decade has witnessed a systemic pattern to assault, undermine, and suppress our autonomous institutions by the ruling party. India’s Democratic ethos is consequently damaged. There is a widespread tendency to turn India into a regimental dictatorship.". He said that while some institutions "were brazenly following the diktats of the ruling party," some had completely adopted their style of communication, functioning, and, in some cases, even their political rhetoric. "It is not their fault. With brute power, threats, coercive mechanisms, and misuse of agencies, this tendency to bow to the powers has become a way for their short-term survival. Even though, in this denigration, India’s Constitution and democracy have become casualties," Kharge wrote...////...