SEC’s email not sent from official mail id

The controversial letter purported to have been written by N. Ramesh Kumar, the AP State Election Commissioner, is said to have reached the Union ministry of home affairs from a personal mail ID and not from the SEC’s official mail ID.

The mystery over who authored the letter, however, remained unsolved.

Ironically, both the SEC and state government have chosen not to pursue this issue and allow the political potboiler to continue, compromising the sanctity of Constitutional institutions.

“We have authentic information that the mail was sent from a personal mail ID carrying the name of Mr Ramesh Kumar. It did reach the MHA which immediately acted on it without taking into consideration the origin of the mail,” top government sources told Deccan Chronicle.

The government is said to have obtained the activity log in the SEC office post Supreme Court verdict upholding the SEC decision to defer the polls on Wednesday. This included Mr Ramesh Kumar dictating to his staff the letter lifting the model code and his meeting with important SEC officials which lasted for one-and-a-half hours.

It was also noticed that the contentious letter went viral sometime after the meeting and police had zeroed in on the source of media leak. A PR agency representative was actively involved in spreading the letter through social media platforms.

The silence of Mr Ramesh Kumar on the letter is intriguing amidst reports that he denied writing any letter to the Centre. As the ruling YSR Congress leaders contended, the SEC should have taken stringent action and volunteered to register a case with the state police.