The Hindu : Front Page : EC censures Varun, asks BJP not to nominate him

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Monday, Mar 23, 2009
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EC censures Varun, asks BJP not to nominate him

J. Venkatesan

“He does not deserve to be a candidate”

Varun Gandhi

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Sunday night strongly condemned and censured BJP candidate Varun Gandhi for his two inflammatory speeches, with communal overtones, which it said were dangerous for the survival of democracy.

The Commission said, “Mr. Gandhi does not deserve to be a candidate” and asked the BJP not to nominate him from Pilibhit constituency for the Lok Sabha polls.

The Full Commission comprising Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami and Commissioners Navin Chawla and S.Y. Quraishi rejected Mr. Gandhi’s claim that the tapes containing the speeches [dated March 7 and 8] were doctored and intended to politically malign him.

It said in its order: “The Commission has seen the CD, not once but several times repeatedly, and is fully convinced and satisfied that the CD has not been tampered with, doctored or morphed, as alleged by the respondent. The copy of the CD in question was duly furnished to him with the Commission’s notice and the onus lay on him to prove his allegation that the CD is not genuine or authentic as is alleged by him.”

On Mr. Gandhi’s contention that there was a delay of 10 days in the surfacing of the CD, it said: “This explanation too cuts no ice. Any delay in the surfacing of the CD does not lessen the gravity of the offensive statements made by him. Also, the late surfacing of the CD does not by itself lead to any conclusion that the CD was morphed or doctored meanwhile, unless proved otherwise by the respondent to the satisfaction of the Commission.”

Quoting Supreme Court judgments, it said: “Persons indulging in such nefarious practices must be visited with the severest penalty permissible under the law, as any leniency shown to them would mean compromising with those corrupt practices which sully the purity of elections.”

It said: “The respondent does not deserve to be a candidate at the present general elections since every candidate must solemnly make and subscribe an oath under the Constitution that he will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution and that he will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India.

“However, the Commission is conscious of its limitations under the law, as it stands at present, that it cannot impose such disqualification on the respondent and debar him from contesting elections unless he is convicted or held guilty by a competent court of law in an appropriate legal proceeding. In the circumstances, the Commission strongly condemns and censures the respondent, Mr. Gandhi.”

The order said: “The Commission expects that the least that the party [which has disapproved Mr. Gandhi’s speeches] must do is to deny the party nomination to Mr. Gandhi as its candidate at the present general election to the Lok Sabha. Any sponsorship of his candidature by the Bharatiya Janata Party, or any other political party at this election, would be perceived as endorsing his unpardonable acts of inciting violence and creating feelings of enmity and hatred between different classes of citizens of India, destroying the social, democratic and plural fabric of the country, as enshrined in the Constitution.”

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