Gopalaswami defends EC's stand on Varun Gandhi

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami has spoken to CNN-IBN and clarified the poll panel's stand on Varun Gandhi.

He said that if they had not acted on Varun Gandhi, they would have been criticised.

"It's a very shocking incident. We would have been criticised if we had not sent out the advisory. However, we can't treat all cases like Varun Gandhi's case. Other cases are different. Varun's statement was exceptional and we had to take action," Gopalaswami said.

"We just advise, and it is not absolutely mandatory that the advise should be adhered to," he added.

He also said that he didn't think the poll panel was really successful in controlling the money flow these elections though he did state that the difficult phase of elections was over.

Gopalaswami also defended his stand on the Naveen Chawla issue.

"I believe I was in the right when I sent the recommendation for Naveen Chawla's removal to the President," he said.