Kerala Police on Tuesday issued notices to social media users and asked platform X to remove posts related to an Election Commission of India (ECI) document that carried the seal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which the state chief electoral officer called a “clerical error”.. Kerala Police asks X to remove posts related to ECI document with BJP seal. The issue began on March 21, when the state CEO’s office circulated a document to political parties clarifying guidelines on the publication of candidates’ criminal antecedents.. The document, however, carried the seal of the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit instead of the ECI’s official seal. According to senior EC officials, “The BJP had submitted a photocopy of a 2019 ECI directive bearing its party seal while seeking clarification, and the same copy was inadvertently redistributed without removing the seal.”. The document was first flagged on social media and quickly picked up by news channels.. Calling it a “purely clerical error”, Kerala CEO Rathan U Kelkar suspended the responsible assistant section officer, and issued a formal withdrawal notice on the same day to all political parties, district election officers and returning officers.. ECI also clarified that the communication originated from the Kerala CEO’s office and not directly from the Commission.. However, it escalated into a wider controversy after Kerala Police’s Cyber Wing issued a notice to X under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules, 2021, directing the platform to remove posts sharing the document.. The notice stated that such posts “blatantly insult the ECI” and could affect public order and communal harmony. As per officials in the Kerala CEO’s office, over 60 social media handles have received such notices.. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee attacked the BJP and the EC alleging that the purported BJP rubber stamp on a ECI communication proved beyond doubt which party was controlling the poll watchdog from the backseat.. “It is now clear from this BJP rubber stamp on EC notification who is running the commission from behind. The cat is out of the bag,” Banerjee said.. “This is not a clerical mistake, it’s a political conspiracy,” Banerjee added, refuting the EC’s reported response that it was a human error.. The episode has gained significance as it unfolded during an active election period in Kerala with the MCC in force.
