Opposition parties in Kerala accused the Congress of double standards after Kerala’s former chief electoral officer assumed charge as the secretary to Chief Minister VD Satheesan on Sunday, PTI reported.

Rathan U Kelkar, a 2003-batch Kerala cadre Indian Administrative Services officer, was transferred a day earlier from the Election Department to the chief minister’s office

As Kerala’s chief electoral officer, Kelkar had supervised the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, as well as the recent Assembly elections.

On Sunday, Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary MV Govindan pointed out that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had strongly criticised the new Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal for appointing Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal as the state’s chief secretary after the Assembly elections.

“But when a similar move happens in Kerala, [Congress leader] KC Venugopal says it is the responsibility of those in power,” Govindan was quoted as saying by PTI. “This is a clear double standard.”

After Agarwal’s appointment as chief secretary in West Bengal, Gandhi had said on social media that in the “Bharatiya Janata Party-Election Commission’s ‘chor bazaar’ [thieves’ market], the bigger the theft, the bigger the reward”.

Referring to the statement, K Surendran, the BJP’s former Kerala unit president, asked on social media: “So Rahul ji, what happened in Keralam, is it still ‘reward for theft’ or suddenly the beauty of democracy?”

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader P Rajeev said the appointment was a “serious issue” and argued that election officials are generally relieved of other responsibilities to maintain the credibility of the electoral system, The News Minute reported.

On the other hand, Congress leaders defended the appointment, saying there was “no politics” behind the decision and that the government had the authority to appoint capable officers to key administrative posts, PTI reported.

Venugopal, the Congress’s general secretary, described the matter as administrative in nature and said such decisions were for the government to make.

Edited by Sneha.