The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Gopalaswamy ‘evasive’ on Pratibha Patil issue

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Tuesday, Jul 03, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Gopalaswamy ‘evasive’ on Pratibha Patil issue

Special Correspondent

Warm welcome: Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswamy being received by the TTD Executive Officer K.V. Ramanachari in Tirumala on Monday.

TIRUMALA: Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswamy who arrived at Tirumala on a pilgrimage preferred to be defensive when he spent a few minutes with the Tirumala-based media persons who in course of their brief interaction shot a volley of ticklish questions at him.

The questions ranged from Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s alleged filing of false affidavit to the legal and moral issues raised on the Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil.

As he was on essentially a pilgrimage, the CEC obviously wanted to play safe and either ducked or evaded direct answers to the sensitive questions.

Asked for his comments on the dust and din being kicked up on the legal and moral validity of Ms. Pratibha Patil’s candidacy, the CEC expressed the view that the Election Commission of India has little role to play in the Presidential election and preferred not to offer any comments.

On the latest legal tangle involving former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa, Mr. Gopalaswamy said that it was only on the basis of the Madras High Court orders that the Election Commission was initiating prosecution proceedings against the AIADMK leader. The EC is bound by the High Court orders.

On the EC’s decision to contest the dismissal of YSR’s land case, the CEC was not inclined to add anything more to what has already been said about the case in the media and has only confirmed it.

Similarly, he was not inclined to be drawn into any controversy on the colossal dimensions the money and the muscle powers have come to assume in the elections of late in the country.

Earlier, he offered prayers in the temple of Lord Venkateswara and was accorded a warm welcome by the TTD’s Executive Officer K.V. Ramanachari as he arrived at Tirumala on a three-day pilgrimage.

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