Earlier this week, a 2019 document came back to haunt the Election Commission. It did not contain explosive, classified information – just harmless guidelines for election candidates.

The problem was that it bore the stamp of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Opposition was quick to decry the document as the poll panel scrambled to explain the “clerical error” – the BJP had requested clarifications on the guidelines and an official had “inadvertently redistributed” the document to other parties as part of the request.

But as the document went viral online, journalists who had shared social media posts with an image of the guidelines began to get notices from the Kerala Police, which is reporting to the Election Commission with state polls just weeks away. The notice demanded that they remove the posts because they “insulted” the poll body and undermined communal harmony.

Instagram and Facebook blocked Scroll’s posts about the controversy citing a “legal request”.

Since the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu to the Election Commission in March 2024, the poll panel has struggled to explain its actions to journalists. Its strategy to contain the resulting awkwardness had been to keep mum and move on.

In June 2024, on the eve of the general election results, I had a private meeting with Rajiv Kumar, the chief election commissioner at the time, along with Gyanesh Kumar and Sandhu, after a press conference. I asked them about the poll panel’s failure to rein in hate speech during the elections. The chief election commissioner did not have a good answer, but what struck me was Gyanesh Kumar and Sandhu’s total silence throughout the conversation. They sat on the adjoining sofa and did not utter a word.

When I asked Gyanesh Kumar about the police assault on Muslim voters in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, he simply smiled and walked away.

This attitude towards the press is now institutional. The poll panel does far fewer press conferences and takes much longer to divulge information. Earlier, journalists could enter an Election Commission press conference without needing Press Information Bureau accreditation. This was done away with before last year’s Bihar polls.

Moreover, any visit to the poll panel’s office requires a prior appointment. Even if they have obtained appointments, journalists are quizzed at the entrance by security personnel.

Some of this is clearly designed to save face. During the special intensive revision in Bihar last year, the press had badgered the poll panel for a copy of its 2003 order on the intensive revision in Bihar to double-check its overreach. The document went missing but magically surfaced once the revision and the election was over.

It is worse for Right to Information requests. I am yet to hear back about one that I filed in October to access data that was published publicly till 2019.

The recent flurry of takedown notices over the Kerala gaffe marks a new turn in this frosty relationship. It seems that since the Election Commission has learnt to ignore the press, it is now moving to suppress it.

It is unlikely that this method can work in the long run. A tough question, a leak, a surprise election, even a court matter – any of these could unravel the Election Commission’s zealous attempts to refashion itself as an opaque pro-government institution. By trying to bury inconvenient facts, it only guarantees greater embarrassment when they inevitably surface.

Gyanesh Kumar’s tenure as the chief election commissioner will end in early 2029. That gives him four long years to learn that an institution cannot simply outrun the truth.

Here is a summary of last week’s top stories.

Energy crisis. The Union government cut the special additional excise duty on petrol ⁠to Rs 3 per litre from Rs 13 per litre, and on diesel to zero from Rs 10. This is expected to help oil marketing companies keep petrol and diesel prices stable.

Fuel marketing companies in the country have been under strain as retail petrol and diesel prices remain frozen despite a nearly 50% surge in global oil prices since the conflict in West Asia began a month ago.

The government also levied an export duty of Rs 21.5 per litre on diesel and Rs 29.5 per litre on aviation turbine fuel to help maintain the availability of the products for domestic consumption.

The Indian rupee sank to a record low of 94.8 against the United States dollar amid continued outflow of foreign funds and weakened equity markets.

Indian diplomacy. With Islamabad mediating peace talks between the United States and Iran, the Congress said that the “colossal failure” in India’s diplomacy, outreach and narrative management had made a “broken country” like Pakistan a “broker country”. The statement came a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that India does not view itself as a “dalaal”, or broker, like Pakistan.

Jaishankar reportedly made the comments at an all-party meeting convened by the government on the West Asia conflict. Responding to Jaishankar’s comments, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that for Pakistan to “even be…considered for a mediating role is a most damning indictment of both the substance and style of…Modi’s diplomacy”.

Contentious legislation. A Supreme Court-appointed advisory committee wrote to Union Social Justice Minister Virendra Kumar, asking that the 2026 Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Amendment Bill be withdrawn. The bill was passed by Parliament on Wednesday and awaits the president’s assent.

Transgender, intersex and gender-diverse organisations have been protesting against the bill, stating that the changes remove the protections guaranteed under the 2019 Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Act. The proposed amendments focus on redefining who qualifies as a transgender person.

Also on Scroll last week

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