Kerala Assembly Elections 2026: BJP seal on Election Commission of India letter sparks row in State

The presence of a seal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kerala unit on a 2019 Election Commission of India (EC) letter on poll-related guidelines, which was distributed to political parties recently, sparked a row in the State on Monday, the final day for submitting nominations for the April 9 Assembly polls in the State.

While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] alleged that “seals are being casually swapped” and questioned whether “all pretences” have been dropped by the BJP, Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala) (CEO) Rathan U. Kelkar attributed the issue to a “clerical error” and added that corrective measures had been taken.

The CPI(M) had shared on its ‘X’ handle a copy of a March 19, 2019, EC letter bearing the BJP seal. The letter, to CEOs of all States and Union Territories ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, dealt with the EC guidelines on the publicity of criminal antecedents by political parties and candidates. Copies of the letter had been issued afresh to political parties by mistake, according to the CEO’s office.

Clerical error, says CEO

The CEO issued a clarification attributing the episode to a clerical error and asking everyone to avoid spreading the “wrong message.” According to him, the BJP Kerala unit had visited the CEO’s office seeking a clarification on the EC guidelines. The party seal was on a copy of the EC letter submitted along with the application seeking the clarification. “The old letter was distributed to political parties due to an oversight,” Mr. Kelkar said.

Once the error was noticed by the CEO’s office, all political parties, district election officers, and returning officers were told in writing that the letter was being withdrawn and it should be disregarded, he said.