Poll panel seeks report from edu dept on CM’S letter to parents

NEW DELHI: The Delhi election office has sought a report from the directorate of education (DOE) on a complaint by the parents’ association against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s letters to parents of children studying in government schools.

The chief minister’s office had last week sent personalised letters to parents, informing them about the Delhi government’s work in the field of education.

Calling the move “political”, the parents’ association had raised the matter with the chief election commissioner of India.

Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh said, “We asked DOE to submit a report in the matter as early as possible.”

A senior official in the Delhi election office said once they get the report, they will examine if the law had been violated. “We received a complaint alleging misuse of the school system for political gain. But since the election schedule has not been announced , it is to be examined if it amounts to violation,” the official said. Once the model code of conduct kicks in after the election schedule is announced, the ruling party is barred from making use of government resources for any kind of political campaign.

Sanjay Goel, director of the DOE, however, said he had not received any letter by Thursday evening. “We have not received any such letter yet. I will be able to comment only after receiving the communication,” he said.

According to principals and teachers of government schools, they received the letters on Tuesday and Wednesday. Teachers in a few schools were complaining about “additional work”. “The bundles of the letters received from the DOE do not have classes mentioned on them. The heads of schools asked all class teachers to go through the bundles and find out the letters addressed to parents of students . The government could have sent these letters directly to the addresses of these children,” said a teacher.