The Kerala Police on Tuesday issued notices to social media users and asked Platform
The case began on March 21, when the state chief executive’s office distributed a document to political parties outlining guidelines on publishing criminal antecedents of candidates.
However, the document bore the stamp of the state BJP unit instead of the official seal of the Election Commission of India. According to senior EC officials, “BJP submitted a copy of the Election Commission of India’s 2019 directions bearing the party’s stamp while seeking clarification, and the same was inadvertently redistributed without removing the stamp.”
The document was first reported on social media and was quickly picked up by news channels.
Terming it a “pure clerical error”, Kerala Chief Executive Rathan U Kelkar suspended the assistant department officer in charge and issued a formal quit notice on the same day to all political parties, district election officials and returning officials.
ECI also clarified that the letter was issued from the office of the Kerala Chief Executive and not directly from the commission.
However, the matter escalated into a wider controversy after the cyber wing of the Kerala Police issued a notice to
Such posts are “grossly insulting to the Election Commission of India” and could affect public order and communal harmony, the notice said. According to officials in the Kerala Chief Executive’s Office, more than 60 people on social media have received such notices.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attacked the BJP and the EC alleging that the BJP’s alleged rubber stamp on the ECI communication proved beyond doubt which party was controlling the election watchdog from the backbench.
“It is now clear from the BJP’s rubber stamp on the EC notification who is running the commission from behind. The cat is out of the bag,” Banerjee said.
“This is not a clerical error, but a political conspiracy,” Banerjee added, refuting the European Commission’s response which was reported to have been a human error.
This incident gained significance when it happened during the active election period in Kerala with the MCC coming into force.
