BJP’s seal on Election Commission’s letter, Congress-CPM-TMC raised questions, EC’s clarification came

Voting is to take place in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the next few days. Meanwhile, an old letter of the Election Commission is going viral, which has the seal of Kerala BJP on it, after which the political atmosphere has heated up across the country. CPIM Kerala was the first to share this letter and targeted the Election Commission, after which the entire opposition raised questions on the impartiality of the Election Commission. Seeing the increasing controversy, now the Election Commission has given clarification regarding this.

Have all pretenses been dropped by the BJP?

It is no secret that the same power center 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.

Seals are being casually… pic.twitter.com/MfMXNaXTgk

— CPI(M) Kerala (@CPIMKerala) March 23, 2026

CPIM had shared a document on social media. In it, the seal of Kerala BJP was visible on the affidavit attached with the Election Commission’s letter dated 19 March 2019. CPIM asked whether the Election Commission and BJP are now running from the same power centre? Whereas Congress asked how BJP’s seal of approval reached the Election Commission.

Election Commission admitted mistake

The Election Commission said, ‘We have received information that a letter from the Election Commission bearing the BJP’s seal of approval is being broadcast on several Malayalam news channels. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) clarifies that this was only a clerical error, which was immediately identified and rectified.

OFFICIAL CLARIFICATION: REGARDING THE ERROREOUS CIRCULATION OF ELECTION COMMISSION DOCUMENT

​ 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.…

— Chief Electoral Officer Kerala (@Ceokerala) March 23, 2026

TMC calls Election Commission ‘B’ team of BJP

Congress leader Pawan Kheda said, ‘Was this time the Modi government also the result of a similar clerical error?’ Trinamool Congress (TMC) said, ‘It has been officially accepted that the Election Commission has become the B-team of BJP.’ TMC MP Mahua Moitra said, ‘The Election Commission had earlier shown courage in issuing official letters bearing the BJP’s seal. Gyanesh Kumar is requested to clarify what we all already know and issue similar letters in future also. Long live democracy.

Congress raised questions on the impartiality of the Election Commission

Congress posted on Twitter saying, ‘The letter sent by the Election Commission to the political parties had the seal of Kerala BJP instead of the seal of the Election Commission. This is not a mistake, but a matter of serious doubt. This raises serious questions on the impartiality and credibility of the constitutional institution. Congress asked, how did the official message of the Election Commission get the seal of approval of any political party? Why is the Election Commission behaving like a puppet of BJP? Can the Election Commission give an explanation to the people of India?

!

A letter sent by the Election Commission to political parties carried the seal of the BJP Kerala unit instead of the Election Commission’s seal.

Let that sink in.

Not a mistake, but a serious red… pic.twitter.com/eXSqartMLH

— Congress (@INCIndia) March 23, 2026

An officer was suspended

After the clarification issued in this matter, the Assistant Section Officer related to this matter in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer has been suspended pending the investigation. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala said, ‘This was completely a clerical error. Kerala BJP had recently submitted a copy of an old guideline, which had its seal of approval. This copy was sent to other parties by mistake.