Ramesh Chennithala seeks Kerala CM’s resignation alleging data leak of 1 crore citizens

Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has demanded the resignation of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, accusing him of unlawfully seizing the personal data of more than 1 crore citizens without their knowledge or consent, handing it over to private companies, and using it for election purposes.

Addressing a press conference in Kochi on Friday, Mr. Chennithala also demanded criminal proceedings against the Chief Minister and all officials who were part of this alleged “illegal transaction.”

“When the highest executive office in the State is accused of engaging in such unauthorised data handling, it raises serious constitutional concerns and threatens citizens’ rights to privacy and self-governance, Mr. Chennithala said.

Personal information of lakhs of women above 35 years of age who registered under the women’s safety scheme were allegedly illegally accessed and extracted based on a letter issued by Sreeram Sambasiva Rao, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Chief Minister’s Office, said Mr. Chennithala while releasing a copy of the letter.

Personal data belonging to lakhs of people, including economically vulnerable women, were allegedly transferred to private agencies without adequate safeguards and used for electoral objectives. There is no clarity or guarantee regarding the extent to which these agencies may misuse such information, Mr. Chennithala said.

The data pool includes around 8 lakh State government employees, 72 lakh welfare pensioners, 3 lakh small-scale entrepreneurs, and beneficiaries of the women’s safety scheme – amounting to more than 1 crore individuals. Government-verified personal information such as phone numbers, names, age, gender, district, taluk, ward, and local body details — all of high commercial value — were allegedly shared with private firms, he claimed.

The exposure of such sensitive personal information could pave the way for serious criminal activities, including cyber fraud. If this data, especially of poor women, falls into the hands of cybercrime networks, repercussions could be severe and far-reaching, Mr. Chennithala said.

Based on the data thus obtained, nearly 1 crore WhatsApp messages were reportedly sent between February 19 and 21 from the Chief Minister’s Office business account. This mass messaging exercise is alleged to have been conducted without authorisation and in violation of legal norms.

Besides, a government order was issued under the name of the Chief Minister’s OSD to empanel around ten private agencies under the pretext of expanding IT Department activities. The urgency in empanelling multiple private agencies raises serious questions, Mr. Chennithala said.