Political Controversy Erupts Over Appointment of Former Chief Election Officer in Kerala

New Delhi, May 23: A political storm has erupted in Kerala following the appointment of former Chief Election Officer (CEO) Ratan U. Kelkar as secretary to Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the Congress party of hypocrisy, claiming that while it opposes such appointments in BJP-ruled states, it has now made a similar move in Kerala.

Recently, when the Karnataka BJP government appointed former CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal as Chief Secretary, Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, criticized the BJP, alleging collusion between the party and the Election Commission. Gandhi claimed that the larger the theft, the bigger the reward.

Now, with the Congress-led Kerala government appointing Ratan U. Kelkar, who previously oversaw the electoral process as CEO during the Kerala Assembly elections, the BJP has intensified its criticism. Senior BJP leader K. Surendran took to social media to label this as Congress’s double standards, branding Gandhi and his team as hypocrites.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also targeted Congress and Rahul Gandhi on social media platform X, urging comparisons to the situation in Congress-ruled Kerala. He pointed out that Kelkar, a 2003 batch IAS officer, is not even the most senior officer in the state, yet he is being appointed as the Chief Minister’s secretary while retaining his position as CEO— a role that requires institutional impartiality and independence. Malviya questioned the integrity of Gandhi’s previous statements regarding institutional propriety, suggesting that his outrage is contingent on which party is in power.

BJP leaders further criticized Congress, noting that when a former election officer was made Chief Secretary in West Bengal, Gandhi labeled it a reward for theft. However, when a similar situation arose in Kerala just ten days later, both Congress and Gandhi remained silent. They questioned whether this silence reflects the beauty of democracy.

In defense of the appointment, Kerala’s Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala stated that the government has the right to appoint capable officials to significant administrative positions. He emphasized that appointing Ratan U. Kelkar as the Chief Minister’s secretary is within the government’s prerogative and that Kelkar is a qualified officer, making the appointment entirely normal.

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