February 5: Renowned classical singer Padmaja Phenany Joglekar, who is producing an audio cassette on BJP's shadow prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's poems, has taken `extra care' to move the Bombay High Court to restrain the Election Commission from including the cassette costs in Vajpayee's poll expenditure.The division bench of Chief Justice M B Shah and Rajan Kochar today heard Joglekar's petition, which claimed that chief electoral officer D K Shankaran had threatened her with arrest. Shankaran said he will order her arrest if she informed the media about her tussle with the EC over the 45-minute audio cassette on Vajpayee's poems titled Geet Naya Gata Hoon, the petition claimed.The court gave Joglekar's cassette company, Padmaneel Arts, a ahead with the release without any fear of arrest. However, the EC is not obliged to declare instantly if it will consider this cassette as part of Vajpayee's expenses, the court ruled, adding that ``EC is free to take action at the right time.''Joglekarsaid she had been given exclusive rights of the poems by Vajpayee in December last year. ``I have to take extra care to ensure the cassette costs are not considered as Atalji's expenses, but as my commercial venture,'' she said in the petition. The cassette was to hit the stands on December 25 to mark the 71st birthday of Vajpayee. However, the production formalities delayed the release. The cassette cover carries Vajpayee's photograph, and Padmaneel Arts proclaim that ```they are merely exploiting his popularity to sell the product.''``The poems are on nature. They have no connection with the leader's political philosophy. And it cannot be construed as Vajpayee's election campaign material. Hence, we wanted to know if the production and marketing cost of the cassette will be included in Vajpayee's account,'' Joglekar's co-petitioner B V Datar said. ``Instead of explaining the EC's view, Shankaran threatened us with arrest,'' he added. Padmaneel Arts had written to the EC on January 12, but as there wasno reply, they filed a petition. The petitioners were represented by V Tulzapurkar and D K Subedar.EC counsel Dhananjay Chandrachud told the court that Shankaran had not threatened Joglekar. Instead, Shankaran questioned the singer's demand for a clean chit for the cassette before its official release. He said the question will be raised either in disqualification proceedings initiated by the EC, or if Vajpayee's defeated rival candidate files an election petition. But no instant verdict can be expected from the EC, Chandrachud argued. He said if Padmaneel Arts are sure about their noble intentions, they can go ahead with the cassette release and face the consequences if the EC questions them later.
