Ailing Chernenko, on Doctors’ Orders, Misses Key Speech

President Konstantin U. Chernenko was ordered by his doctors not to deliver a key election address today, and a Politburo member read the Soviet leader’s campaign speech to voters.

Chernenko, 73, has not been seen in public for 57 days. Under Kremlin protocol, he would have been expected to address a pre-election meeting today--two days before the elections--as a candidate for a parliamentary seat.

Tass press agency said in its report on the meeting that Moscow city party leader Viktor V. Grishin announced “that Konstantin Chernenko would not attend the meeting on doctors’ recommendation.

“On instructions from Konstantin Chernenko, his electoral speech was read at the meeting,” Tass said.

Tass then began running the text of Chernenko’s address. The opening greetings did not make any reference to his health or offer a personal explanation for his absence.

“Dear comrades,” the address began, “I am expressing heartfelt gratitude to the workers of the Kuibyshev district of Moscow who have again nominated me as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation. I will apply all efforts to confirm this great trust and high honor.”

Importance Emphasized

The text then lauded the Soviet communist system and stressed the importance of the elections.

A Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, had said earlier that Chernenko would not attend because he was ill, but said he had no details about the illness and could not say whether the leader was hospitalized.

Each of the 15 republics that make up the Soviet Union will elect a parliament Sunday, and Chernenko is a nominee from a Moscow district.

The 10 other members of the ruling Communist Party Politburo who are candidates have given their speeches. Premier Nikolai A. Tikhonov spoke Thursday, and, according to Kremlin custom, Chernenko’s address should have followed today.

Asked whether Chernenko would vote Sunday, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “If he feels well, he will vote.”

Photographed Last Year

Last year, less than a month after he succeeded the late Yuri V. Andropov as party leader and head of the Soviet state, Chernenko and his wife, Anna Dmitrievna, were photographed and filmed by journalists as they cast ballots in elections for the national parliament, the Supreme Soviet.

Chernenko’s last public appearance was Dec. 27, when he gave awards to a group of Soviet writers. Soviet television showed five minutes of the ceremony, and Chernenko appeared to have great breathing difficulty while speaking.

On Dec. 24, he was absent from the Red Square funeral of Defense Minister Dmitri F. Ustinov.

Greek officials said Feb. 12 that a planned meeting between Chernenko and visiting Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou was canceled because Chernenko was ill. The same day, a Soviet official said Chernenko was out of the capital on vacation.

Unconfirmed rumors in Moscow have said Chernenko has had a severe emphysema attack or cardiac problem and is unable to speak. He has been absent from view for long periods of time, including the year before he succeeded Andropov as Soviet leader.