Election Commission denies it banned Tamil book on Rafale deal, asks for report

An election flying squad, accompanied by police, seized copies of the book, saying it could not be allowed under the Model Code of Conduct.

Dassault Aviation's Rafale aircraft | Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg

New Delhi: Hours after reports emerged Tuesday that the Election Commission of India had stayed the release of a book on the Rafale deal because of the Model Code of Conduct, the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Tamil Nadu clarified that neither the commission nor his office had issued any such instructions.

The officer, Satyabrata Sahoo told The Hindu that he had, in fact, directed the district electoral officer of Chennai to look into the matter and give his report “immediately”.

“Neither we nor the CEO gave any instructions, so of course action will be taken (against the people concerned),” Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa told ThePrint.

The spokesperson for the EC told ThePrint that the report is expected later Tuesday, and that the commission has given no express instructions to stay the book, Nattai Ulukkum Rafale Bera Uzhaal (The Rafale Scam That Is Rocking The Country).

The publisher of the book has now reportedly said it will be released by senior journalist N. Ram, who has done a series of investigative stories on the Rafale deal.

Furore on social media

Earlier in the day, reports emerged that an election flying squad along with police personnel had seized copies of the book from publishing house Nagarajan in Teynampet, Chennai.

The reports immediately led to a furore on social media, with the EC receiving flak for banning the book, even as the grounds for the ‘ban’ remained unclear.

According to reports, the election flying squad, led by assistant executive engineer S. Ganesh, had told the publisher that the book release function and sale of the book could not be allowed under the Model Code of Conduct.

Ganesh also reportedly gave a hand-written letter banning the book’s release and sale, as copies of the book were seized by the police personnel and other officials.

The EC will now investigate under whose instructions the officials and the police were operating.