MOSCOW -- Photographs of President Konstantin Chernenko appeared in every major Soviet newspaper today but the man who was supporting the ailing Kremlin chief had apparently been removed from the pictures.
On Sunday, Soviet television had shown a wheezing Chernenko for the first time in eight weeks, casting his ballot in nationwide elections, although his waxy face and wooden movements showed he has been ill.
The television appearance was carefully controlled and an examination of the film in slow-motion showed the hand of an aide holding up the 73-year-old leader through most of the brief photo session. Another man stood on the other side.
At one point, flowers handed to Chernenko were passed on to one of the aides, creating an awkward moment as the man tried to hold them in one hand without taking his other from under the Soviet leader's arm.
Although the Soviet report had implied he voted at a regular polling station, the room shown on television was very small -- about 7 yards square -- and could have been in a hospital or special clinic. There was no indication when the pictures were taken.
The television footage, which was shown Sunday afternoon in a rare interruption of regular broadcasting, was followed by front-page photos today of Chernenko dropping a ballot into the box.
Although the television pictures showed an aide standing close to Chernenko as he voted, the newspaper photos showed the Soviet leader standing alone.
Either the still photographs had been taken at a separate time from the television pictures, or the aide had been removed by the art department. Soviet newspapers routinely doctor photos to improve the appearance of its leaders.
On Friday, Viktor Grishin, a member of the ruling Politburo told an election rally that Chernenko's doctors forbade him to deliver the traditional closing campaign speech.
Sunday's surprise appearance put an end to weeks of speculation that Chernenko was critically ill and near death.
Chernenko was shown sitting at a desk, then standing stiffly at the ballot box but there was no footage of him walking, neither inside the building nor of his entry and departure, an indication he might have needed assistance.
'Thank you,' he said with a cough and his now-characteristic wheeze, the result of a chronic lung ailment. 'That's fine.'
The ailing Soviet leader, in a dark blue suit and blue and silver striped necktie, filled out his ballot in a private room in the Krasnaya Presnaya polling station, well away from ordinary voters.
Appearing slightly unsteady, Chernenko dropped his ballot into the box and raised his right arm woodenly in a wave to Grishin and election officials.
There were no Western reporters present although they had been permitted into the hall to watch Soviet officials, other members of the Politburo and regular voters cast their ballots.
It was clear that Kremlin officials wanted to guarantee Chernenko's privacy and be able to control what would be shown on television.
More than 99 percent of the electorate turned out to elect 2.3 million deputies to town councils and parliaments of the 15 Soviet republics, including Chernenko, a delegate to the Supreme Soviet, or parliament, from Moscow's Kuibyshev district.
Chernenko last appeared publicly in a televised awards ceremony Dec. 27. Since then, he has missed a Warsaw Pact summit and a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou because of the illness.
During his absence, rumors grew daily that he had suffered a stroke, had a heart attack or a recurrence of pneumonia that sidetracked him for three months in 1983.
Even as late as Sunday morning, a rumor circulated that he had just undergone surgery to remove a lung.
