Senior IAS officer Dr. Rathan U. Kelkar took charge as Secretary to Kerala Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan on Sunday, despite it being a weekend holiday. His immediate transition from the post of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has sparked a political storm, with opposition parties accusing the ruling Congress-led government of hypocrisy and double standards.
Dr. Kelkar, who supervised the recent Kerala Assembly elections as the state’s Chief Electoral Officer, was transferred and posted to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) by the newly formed Congress-led UDF government. The government directed him to assume charge immediately, even though it was a Sunday.
The opposition parties — the CPM, CPI and the BJP — have sharply criticized the appointment. They alleged that appointing the state’s top election official to the Chief Minister’s Office immediately after an election raises serious questions about the neutrality, credibility and fairness of the electoral process.
CPM and BJP leaders also targeted the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi, accusing them of maintaining double standards regarding bureaucratic appointments. Opposition leaders pointed out that while Rahul Gandhi had criticized the BJP government in West Bengal for appointing former Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal as Chief Secretary, the newly elected Congress government in Kerala has now appointed its own CEO, Dr. Rathan U. Kelkar, as Secretary to Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan.
CPM Kerala Secretary M. V. Govindan strongly criticized the Congress party, accusing it of “double standards” and hinting that damaging internal revelations regarding the decision would soon emerge. Govindan also recalled that during Kelkar’s tenure as CEO, the Election Office faced intense public and political criticism over allegations that thousands of voters had been disenfranchised.
Senior CPM leader and former Industries Minister P. Rajeev demanded that Rahul Gandhi clarify his stand on the appointment of Kerala’s Chief Electoral Officer, Dr. Rathan U. Kelkar, as Secretary to the Chief Minister. Rajeev noted that Rahul Gandhi had fiercely opposed the appointment of West Bengal’s former Chief Electoral Officer, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, as Chief Secretary by the BJP government, describing it at the time as a “reward for vote theft” and alleging collusion between the ruling party and the Election Commission.
CPI State Secretary Binoy Viswam also criticized the appointment, stating that elevating an officer associated with the controversial policies of the Election Commission of India to such a key post would create serious doubts and questions among the public.
Former Kerala BJP president K. Surendran, in a Facebook post, accused Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party of following a “double standard” over the appointment of Dr. Rathan U. Kelkar as Secretary to Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan.
Surendran pointed out that just 10 days earlier, Rahul Gandhi had attacked the BJP after West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal was appointed Chief Secretary by the new BJP government in the state.
Taking a sarcastic swipe at Rahul Gandhi, Surendran said that while Gandhi had condemned the BJP government for appointing West Bengal’s CEO as Chief Secretary, the Congress-led government in Kerala had now done “exactly the same thing” by appointing Kerala’s CEO as Secretary to Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan.
“If the BJP does it in Bengal, it is a reward for vote theft. If Mr. V. D. Satheesan does it in Kerala, it becomes the beauty of democracy. Rahul and company are a global double-standard gang,” Surendran wrote in his Facebook post.
The Congress, however, rejected all allegations of political bias, asserting that there was “no politics” behind the appointment. KPCC President Sunny Joseph maintained that the newly formed government was fully empowered to appoint capable and clean-track officers to key administrative positions strictly on the basis of merit.