The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Chief Minister can be prosecuted: EC

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Chief Minister can be prosecuted: EC

Special Correspondent

Governor’s permission not mandatory as per legal opinion

— PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

Power centre: Chief Electoral Officer. I.V. Subba Rao inspecting counting centre in Hyderabad on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: The Election Commission has asserted that there is no need to seek the Governor’s permission to prosecute Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy as the case filed against him deals with an electoral offence under Section 126 of the Representation of People Act.

It issued this clarification after consulting legal experts on Saturday in response to repeated queries by Chief Electoral Officer I. V. Subba Rao in light of the opinion expressed by some sections, including lawyers, that such permission was mandatory.

Mr. Rao told reporters here on Saturday that the case was booked against the Chief Minister under the principle of equality before law which implied that nobody was above law. Any person found influencing voters by an act, speech or display during the 48-hour silence period before the polling would be treated alike.

Party leader

Moreover, the case had been booked against him as a prominent leader of his party and not in his capacity as the Chief Minister of the State.

The Chief Electoral Officer made it clear that the cases booked against Dr. Reddy and other leaders like N. Chandrababu Naidu and K. Chandrasekhar Rao would be taken to their logical end. “These cases will have to necessarily go to the courts concerned and arguments will be put forth by the standing counsels of the EC”.

He said evidence was being collected on similar offences committed by others like K. Yerran Naidu, Sitaram Yechuri, N. Jayaprakash Narayan, B. V. Raghavulu and Bandaru Dattatreya. Available material such as video-clippings were being examined to ascertain whether they addressed the press or spoke at a public meeting within the 48-hour silence period subject to verification of the contents within the ambit of RP Act.

Correction

Mr. Rao corrected an earlier statement by saying that a case had been booked against TV 9 and not TV 5 for telecasting the speech of Mr. Chandrababu Naidu at Jagayyapet in Krishna district on May 28.

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