Thiruvananthapuram: Facing mounting criticism from the Opposition, Kerala’s new Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan Monday defended the appointment of the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rathan U. Kelkar as his secretary.
Addressing media persons, Satheesan aimed at the comparison with West Bengal, saying that the Trinamool Congress, Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) had raised serious allegations against the CEO of that state over the mass deletion of voters through the Special Intensive Review.
“Did anyone here make such a complaint against our Chief Electoral Officer? Did the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is now speaking about this, raise any such complaint? Did the CPI(M)?” Satheesan asked, adding that the only complaints against the Election Commission in Kerala had come from his own office when he was the Leader of Opposition (LoP), and that those were election-related, not personal.
Kelkar, a 2003-batch Kerala cadre Indian Administrative Service officer, was appointed as Satheesan’s secretary Saturday. The appointment drew criticism from CPI(M) and BJP, much like Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had earlier slammed the appointment of the West Bengal CEO as chief secretary there following the recent assembly polls.
The SIR in West Bengal removed over 90 lakh names from the voters’ list, a majority of whom were reportedly from the Muslim community. After the BJP won the assembly polls there, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal was appointed as new Chief Secretary of Bengal. Rahul, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had strongly criticised the move, alleging that it suggested a close relationship between the Election Commission and the ruling party.
In Kerala, a controversy had erupted in the run-up to the assembly polls after the seal of the BJP’s Kerala unit had appeared on an official Election Commission communication to political parties, though the Commission had later said it was a “clerical error”.
Similarly, political parties alleged that deleting voters from the rolls during the SIR exercise in Kerala was to benefit their respective political opponents. According to the final electoral rolls, the total number of voters in Kerala fell by around 14 lakh compared to the previous count.
Satheesan said no-one can allege that UDF victory in the state was due to the poll panel’s intervention. “Was he the one who made the United Democratic Front (UDF) win 102 seats? Is this some kind of joke? What sort of comedy is happening in Kerala? The panel was given by the Pinarayi government. From that panel, the Election Commission appointed him as Chief Electoral Officer. So are they saying the Pinarayi government included him in the panel so that he could manipulate the elections and help the UDF win 102 seats?” Satheesan asked.
Soon after Satheesan’s press meet, CPI(M) leader M.V. Jayarajan said his party had filed official complaints against the officer. He said the chief minister himself is now justifying the CEO’s actions after criticising the SIR process vehemently when he was the LoP. He said the decision was politically inappropriate as appointments to the CM’s Office are politically sensitive decisions.
“How can he now swallow the criticisms he himself made earlier against the Chief Electoral Officer while he was Opposition Leader? If this person enters the Chief Minister’s Office, there are two gains for the chief minister. One, a reward for the person who enabled the UDF to add fake voters in this Assembly election, and two, by bringing him into the Chief Minister’s Office, the BJP can also be satisfied,” he said.
Former BJP state president K. Surendran had earlier accused the Congress of “double standards” over the appointment and of showing “selective outrage”. Surendran had asked: “So Rahul ji, what happened in Keralam, is it still ‘reward for theft’ or suddenly the beauty of democracy?”
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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