KOCHI: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the Election Commission’s direction to police to act against alleged misleading news on social media regarding a letter carrying the BJP’s seal shows “intolerance towards criticism” by the poll panel.
Vijayan said the matter would be taken up with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), describing the presence of the BJP Kerala unit’s seal on an Election Commission document as “unbelievable” and not a mere lapse by a single official.
He added that Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar had informed him that the matter was under investigation.
According to him, the details of the probe and its findings should be made public.
“Such developments will be criticised. I am criticising it now. But directing police to take action is a move to block criticism. It shows intolerance towards criticism. Can the ECI behave like that? It has to remove itself from such decisions. Not allowing criticism is not right in a democratic system,” Vijayan said.
He further said the police were no longer under his control and that the action was taken at the direction of the ECI.
The poll panel had on Tuesday said it had directed police to take down misleading news about the issue from social media platforms.
Police said certain images and content, which were later clarified by the Kerala Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), continued to be circulated in a misleading manner across platforms.
“These were being used as part of a misinformation campaign, with the potential to adversely impact the integrity of the electoral process and erode public trust,” it said.
The controversy surfaced after the CPI(M) flagged the issue on social media platform X, sharing an affidavit attached to a March 19, 2019 letter sent to political parties that bore the BJP Kerala seal instead of the Election Commission’s official seal.
The Election Commission had termed it a “purely clerical error” and said it was rectified immediately. It also said the official responsible had been placed under suspension.