Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami today said the Election Commission (EC) had only issued an ‘advisory’ to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not to give ticket to Varun Gandhi and the party was free to act on its own.
Addressing a press conference here today after reviewing preparations for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, being held on April 23, he said, “We have seen the tape and we are satisfied with the evidence against Varun Gandhi. We had issued an advisory to the BJP. If an advice is not taken, it is not taken. Our duty ends there,” he said.
When asked about his comments on the BJP statement that it would not take the EC’s suggestion to drop Varun Gandhi as its candidate, he said the EC had only issued an advisory to the BJP following its investigation and it was not a directive. The Election Commission had no powers to issue any such directives to political parties, he added.
“We have been asking for powers from the commission for the last 10 years to act against candidates with criminal records. But so far nothing has been done,” he stated.