The Election Commission blamed clerical errors for a letter by the EC being circulated with a BJP seal. Issuing an official clarification, the EC said that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) submitted a document bearing the party seal as part of a clarification requested regarding the 2019 guidelines on the publication of criminal antecedents of candidates. It said that, due to an oversight by the office, the same document was sent to other parties for the same clarification.The response comes as an affidavit attached to a letter dated March 19, 2019, which was circulated to political parties in Kerala with a BJP seal on it. CPI(M) Kerala shared the images of the letter, as it accused that the EC is controlled by the same political power. It also added a snarky remark stating that the party should at least have the “courtesy to maintain separate desks”The CPI(M), posting on X, said, “Have all pretences been dropped by the BJP? It is no secret that the same power centre seems to control both the Election Commission of India and the BJP. Even then, at least maintain the courtesy of two separate desks. Now, even that seems unnecessary.”It further remarked about the BJP seal on the affidavit and compared the occurrence to an older allegation of EVM tampering, saying, “Seals are being casually swapped. A BJP seal on an Election Commission letter! Just like the old allegation – that no matter which button you press, the lotus appears – here comes another ‘coincidence.’ Shouldn’t someone be paying attention?”It also added a proper verification of the incident and said, “The document has been received by multiple parties. It has been cross-verified with at least two of the recipients. It is also confirmed that the email originated from the official Election Commission source.”In response to the post, the Election Commission issued an official clarification into the matter. It said that it acknowledges the fault in circulation that happened because of a clerical error. It said, ” It has come to our notice that a letter from the Election Commission, bearing the seal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is being circulated across various Malayalam news channels. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) hereby clarifies that this was purely a clerical error, which was identified and rectified immediately.“It gave a complete account of the incident, stating, “The BJP Kerala Unit had recently approached the CEO’s office seeking clarification on the 2019 guidelines regarding the publication of criminal antecedents of candidates. Along with their request, the party submitted a photocopy of the original 2019 directive. The party’s seal was present on that specific copy provided by them.”“Due to an oversight, the office failed to notice the party symbol on the submitted document and inadvertently redistributed it to other political parties as part of the requested clarification. The guidelines in question have undergone revisions since 2019, which have already been communicated to all political entities,” it added.According to the statement, the deputy CEO had withdrawn the erroneous document along with a formal letter.“The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer acknowledged the lapse as soon as it was detected. Consequently. On March 21, the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer issued a formal letter withdrawing the erroneous document.The withdrawal notice was dispatched to all political parties, District Election Officers, and Returning Officers.”It further urged to refrain from spreading further confusion and claimed that the commission remains free from any external interference. “The public and media are requested to refrain from spreading misleading messages based on this clerical error. The Election Commission maintains a rigorous and foolproof system to ensure that the electoral process remains free from any external interference or influence,” it said.Kerala is set to undergo polling in one phase on April 9, while the counting of votes is scheduled for May 4.
