Ever since Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena said that political parties cannot use the topic of Sabarimala in their Lok Sabha poll campaigns, he has received criticism, especially from BJP leaders. In an interview to Asianet News, Teeka Ram said that BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai apologised to him twice over the phone, but then would go out and say something stupid again.
“That's his nature. He would call me and say, ‘Sir it was wrong, please accept my apology’ but then after going out, what does he say. He’d say he didn’t mean it and then go out and repeat it. How would you trust a person like that? It is double standards,” Teeka Ram said.
Sreedharan Pillai had criticised Teeka Ram when the latter gave a statement against the NDA’s Thrissur candidate Suresh Gopi. Against the advice of the Election Commission, Suresh Gopi had used the name of Lord Ayyappa in his campaign speech. Thrissur collector TV Anupama had sent a notice to Suresh Gopi and Teeka Ram stood by her action.
NDA’s Sobha Surendran, contesting from Attingal, has also been vocal about her displeasure with Teeka Ram’s instruction not to evoke Sabarimala which would go against the Model Code of Conduct.
“Teeka Ram says Sabarimala should not be a topic of discussion. When elections are happening in a democracy, how can we not discuss the politics of the days gone by? All these months, the Communist government gave leadership to attacks (on protestors). And now, Teeka Ram has sent a notice to Suresh Gopi for using the name of Ayyappa. I want to ask if Teeka Ram is doing the work of the Election Commission or working as secretary of Pinarayi Vijayan’s party at the AKG centre,” she earlier told TNM.