Rajeev Chandrasekhar files complaint against Congress leader over alleged forgery and misinformation

New Delhi [India], April 4 : Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Thiruvananthapuram, Rajeev Chandrasekhar has filed a complaint against Congress Leader J. Moses Joseph DCruz for morphing a photograph to defame his campaign.
DCruz is accused of disseminating misinformation and engaging in criminal conspiracies by manipulating an old photograph featuring Union Minister Kumari Pratima Bhowmick alongside Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
According to a statement from the BJP, the photograph in question dates back to August 4, 2023, and was circulated on various social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp.
The complaint states that an FIR should be lodged under sections 120B, 463, 464, 465, 469, 471, 499, and 500 of the IPC, along with 66D of the IT Act since DCruz morphed the image of Minister Kumari Pratima Bhowmick with the face of PK Indira, the wife of CPI(M) leader EP Jayarajan.
The caption accompanying the image "falsely" implied a professional connection between Rajeev Chandrasekhar and PK Indira, "fueling" a baseless conspiracy alleging business ties between Chandrasekhar and EP Jayarajan.
The complaint asserts that this manipulation was executed to deceive the public and garner sympathy through misleading information. This act, according to the complaint, was a deliberate effort to disseminate false and frivolous content on social media, advancing both personal and political agendas through criminal conspiracy and misinformation campaigns.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar condemned these actions as "desperate measures by the Congress, as they have no real developmental agenda to talk about or achievements to showcase in Thiruvananthapuram".
In another case, a video circulating on social media, propagated by Congress leaders in Kerala, alleges that Rajeev Chandrasekhar failed to disclose all his assets and income in his affidavit to the election commission.
This allegation, already dismissed by the Election Commission and the Delhi High Court, underscores the Congress's persistence in "propagating a fabricated narrative against the BJP candidate despite factual disproof".
In 2019, petitioner Renjith Thomas submitted a writ petition to the High Court of Delhi. In this petition, the Election Commission was made a party.
The petition asserted comparable claims, alleging that the affidavit filed by Chandrasekhar before the Election Commission inadequately disclosed the entirety of his assets. The High Court declined to consider the petition and subsequently dismissed it.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar has complained, citing violation of Rule I (2) of the Model Code of Conduct with the Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala, Sanjay Kaul and the Additional Chief Electoral Officer and Nodal Officer in Charge of the Model Code of Conduct, Adeela Abdullah.
In the letter, Chandrasekhar condemns the dissemination of the false video as a "highly distressing violation of the Model Code of Conduct" by the Congress party.
"The Congress has published a defamatory video (first published on X, from the official Twitter account of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee) making various unsubstantiated and spurious allegations with the premise that I have submitted a false affidavit before the Election Commission during the time of my Rajya Sabha election, specifically regarding my assets and wealth. It is submitted that at no point has the Election Commission or any other competent authority found my affidavit to be false even though I may have been involved in electoral politics at the very least since 2006," Rajeev Chandrasekhar wrote in his letter.
Rule I (2) of the Model Code of Conduct states, "Criticism of other political parties, when made, shall be confined to their policies and programme, record and work. Parties and Candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided."
The statement from the BJP states, therefore Congress is clearly in violation of this MCC rule. In light of these developments, despite public disclosure and rulings from both the Election Commission and the Delhi High Court in favour of Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Congress persists in perpetuating misinformation to tarnish the image of the BJP candidate.