After the flak that the Election Commission has drawn for its purported directive, the CEC felt compelled to clarify that the Commission had never tried to curb the debate on Kargil.

Gill said on the contrary, the Commission had issued a statement on August 19 saying that the people would have to debate all aspects of the Kargil conflict during the election campaign, but with the caveat, that the armed forces which have a historic record should not be dragged into the debate.

``All we have said is that the time-tested tradition of keeping the armed forces out of political controversies should be respected,'' Gill said.

Clearly miffed that its statement calling for a debate, had been turned on its head in the media and was earning the Commission a negative response for what Gill called ``no fault of ours'', he was at painsto explain the EC's position.

``Kargil is a major issue and who are we to stop anyone from raising it?'' Gill remarked.

When asked for specific directives on how to keep the armed forces out of the debate, Gill's reply was non-commital. Indian political parties were mature enough to know how to debate Kargil without involving the forces, he said.

Apart from the clarification on the Kargil debate, the hour-long question-answer session with newspersons was dominated by queries arising from the election campaign.

Asked for the Commission's views on complaints by the Congress that the BJP candidate for the Bellary Lok Sabha seat, Sushma Swaraj, had violated the code of conduct by referring to her rival and Congress president Sonia Gandhi's ``foreign origin'', Gill said the Commission had not received any such complaint so far.

The Commission did not react to reports appearing in the newspapers. ``We do not get excited by media reports on this or any other issue,'' was his sanguine reply. The EC wouldonly consider the matter if and when it received an official complaint he said, even as he emphasised that this did not mean that the Commission was putting off or shying away from a decision.

Referring to poll coverage in the audiovisual media, Gill said the Commission has in recent days taken up with the Prasar Bharati board the issue of covering the elections in an impartial manner. A similar appeal has been made to the private television channels to ensure that the country can approach the polls with balanced news coverage.

The EC has also ordered the returning officer for Srikakulam Parliamentary constituency in Andhra Pradesh to review the nomination filed by the Anna Telugu Desam Party (ATDP) who had given a false affidavit concealing the fact that he had been convicted for two years.