BJP seal row: Two officials relieved of election duties

Two officials attached to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Kerala have been relieved of their election duties following a row over the distribution of an Election Commission of India (EC) letter that bore the seal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)l.

A Deputy Chief Electoral Officer and a Section Officer have been removed from duties related to the April 9 Assembly elections and sent back to their parent offices, CEO Rathan U. Kelkar said on Saturday. The action followed an inquiry conducted by the P.B. Nooh, the Additional CEO in charge of the Model Code of Conduct and media.

The inquiry was ordered after the issue came to light, with Mr. Nooh directed to submit his report within 48 hours. The controversy relates to a 2019 EC letter regarding the publication of criminal antecedents of candidates. Copies of this letter distributed by the CEO’s office to political parties, were found to carry the seal of the BJP’s Kerala unit, sparking a controversy. The incident had grabbed headlines after the CPI(M) posted a copy of the letter online and slammed the EC.

The CEO’s office had explained that the incident was a “purely clerical error, that was identified and rectified immediately”. Mr. Kelkar’s office clarified that the BJP’s Kerala unit had recently approached the office seeking clarification on the 2019 guidelines issued by the EC and had submitted a photocopy of the directive along with its request. This photocopy carried the seal.

Due to an oversight by the office, this version was inadvertently redistributed to political parties. On March 21, the CEO’s office had issued a letter to political parties withdrawing the document.

A separate controversy also arose over action taken by the Cyber Operations wing of the Kerala Police against social media accounts that had posted the document.