Once the election season heats up enough, even a retweet can spark a political firestorm.
This is exactly what happened on Wednesday when Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh tore into the District Election Officer of New Delhi for resharing a post by BJP Delhi’s official handle on X (formerly Twitter) about a meeting between some of the party’s leaders and Election Commission officials.
Sharing a screenshot of the retweet, Mr Singh, in a post dripping with sarcasm, accused the District Election Officer (DEO) of bias and said the officer would formally join the BJP and campaign for the party. The DEO clarified that the social media handle is managed by an officer from the social media cell, who had reposted the tweet “inadvertently” and has been replaced.
In his post on X, Mr Singh wrote in Hindi, “A first in the history of India – the Election Officer of New Delhi has started retweeting BJP’s tweets secretly. Now the District Election Officer of New Delhi Legislative Assembly is saying “When you love, what is there to fear?” (‘jab pyaar kiya to darna kya‘).”
“The District Election Officer has now decided to join the BJP and campaign openly. Tomorrow at 11 am, the District Election Officer will formally join the BJP at the BJP office,” he sneered.
Leaders from the AAP and the BJP have been meeting officials from the Election Commission frequently – often to complain against the other party – ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, which are scheduled to be held on February 5. The post by BJP Delhi retweeted by the DEO’s handle was about the party’s Delhi President Virendra Sachdeva, MP Bansuri Swaraj and others meeting Election Commission officials on Tuesday.
‘Officer Replaced’
Replying to the AAP Rajya Sabha MP’s post, the DEO clarified that the repost was immediately undone as soon as it was brought to light and that the social media cell has been directed to exercise caution.
“The DEO’s official social media handle is managed by the Nodal Officer, Social Media Cell, who is responsible for posting replies and addressing tweets, particularly to counter misinformation and ensure accurate communication with the public. It has come to light that this particular tweet was inadvertently reposted while replying to the said tweet as part of routine engagement with social media content. The repost was immediately undone as soon as it was brought to the notice of the DEO,” the DEO’s handle posted.
The poll officer said the nodal officer of the social media cell has been replaced to ensure accountability and ensure the incident is not repeated.
“Additionally, the Social Media Cell has been directed to exercise greater caution in future engagements to maintain the integrity and impartiality of the DEO’s social media communications. This clarification is issued to reaffirm the DEO’s commitment to impartiality and adherence to the guidelines laid down by the Election Commission of India,” the post said.
Earlier Row
Mr Singh’s dig at the District Election Officer came hours after the Aam Aadmi Party had accused the Election Commission of remaining mum while the BJP’s Parvesh Verma, who is contesting against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi Assembly constituency, distributed shoes to voters.
The returning officer of the constituency had then filed a complaint with the police and a case was registered against Mr Verma for violating the Model Code of Conduct.
