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 circulation of an Election Commission of India (EC) letter bearing the seal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)l.
Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U. Kelkar said on Saturday that the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer and the Section Head have been removed from their duties related to the April 9 assembly elections and sent back to their parent offices. The action followed an investigation by PB Nooh, the other director general responsible for the Model Code of Conduct and Media.
An investigation was ordered after the issue came to light, with Mr Nooh ordered to report back within 48 hours. The controversy concerns a 2019 EC letter regarding the disclosure of candidates’ criminal antecedents. Copies of this letter, which the CEO’s office distributed to political parties, were found to bear the seal of the Kerala BJP unit, sparking a controversy. The incident hit the headlines after the CPI(M) posted a copy of the letter online and criticized the EC.
The CEO’s office explained that the incident was “purely an administrative error that was identified and immediately corrected.” Mr. Kelkar’s office clarified that the Kerala BJP unit had recently approached the authority seeking clarification on the 2019 guidelines issued by the EC and had submitted a photocopy of the directive along with its request. This photocopy bore the seal.
This version was inadvertently redistributed to the political parties by the authority’s oversight. On March 21, the director general’s office sent a letter to the political parties withdrawing the document.
A separate controversy has also arisen over the action taken by the cyber operations wing of the Kerala Police against the social media accounts that posted the document.
Published – 28 March 2026 21:39 IST
