The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Kerala on Monday, March 24 said a letter from the Election Commission of India bearing the seal of the Bharatiya Janata Party was circulated due to a clerical error. The office said the lapse was noticed quickly and rectified, even as the document’s circulation across Malayalam news channels triggered confusion ahead of the Assembly elections.
An Assistant Section Officer has been suspended pending an inquiry into the lapse.
According to officials, the issue arose after the BJP’s Kerala unit approached the CEO’s office seeking clarification on the 2019 guidelines regarding the publication of criminal antecedents of candidates. Along with its request, the party submitted a photocopy of the original 2019 directive that carried its official seal. Due to an oversight, officials failed to notice the party symbol on the document and inadvertently redistributed the same copy to other political parties while issuing the clarification.
The CEO’s office said the mistake was identified soon after circulation, following which corrective steps were initiated. On March 21, the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer issued a formal letter withdrawing the erroneous communication and circulated a revised version to all political parties, District Election Officers, and Returning Officers. Authorities instructed all stakeholders to disregard the earlier document.
Officials clarified that the guidelines referred to in the document have undergone revisions since 2019 and that updated instructions had already been communicated to all political entities. They stressed that the incident was limited to a clerical oversight and did not compromise the integrity of the electoral process. The CEO’s office also urged the public and media to refrain from spreading misleading interpretations based on the error, reiterating that robust systems are in place to ensure a free and fair election.
Kerala will go to the polls on April 9 to elect 140 legislators. The state has an electorate of around 2.72 crore. The election is expected to see a triangular contest between the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front, the Congress-led United Democratic Front, and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
With inputs from IANS