The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘The only body which does not have any problem is the dead body’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 09, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘The only body which does not have any problem is the dead body’

B.S. Satish Kumar

BANGALORE: Former chief election commissioner T.N. Seshan was in his element while delivering the keynote address at a function organised in Bangalore to launch “Vote Bengaluru”. His speech was not only hard-hitting but interspersed with sarcasm and humour. It turned out to be a marathon interactive session as he replied to all the queries posed by an enthusiastic audience. When the organisers offered to read out the questions sent by the audience, he remarked: “I am not an illiterate. I can read. We government servants know to read even the worst of handwritings.” When people in the audience complained of missing names in the voters’ list, he stunned them by revealing that his own name was missing from the list when he was a member of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in Dehradun. “When I went to the polling booth, the returning officer said, ‘Sir you cannot vote because your gender has been shown as female in the voters’ list’, ” Mr. Seshan said.

Recalling similar experiences in his life, Mr. Seshan said he had to write the SSLC and intermediate exams twice. He said: “Once the question paper had leaked. In another instance, the question paper was never received by the examination centre.”

At the interaction session, when someone complained about the Constitution, he shot back: “The only body which does not have any problem is the dead body.”

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