Photograph with Tovino: EC issues notice to VS Sunil Kumar

Thrissur: The Election Commission has served a notice to V S Sunil Kumar, the CPM candidate to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Thrissur Constituency. 

The former Agriculture Minister was issued the notice for posting a photograph of him with actor Tovino Thomas on Facebook as part of the election campaign. Tovino is the brand ambassador of the Election Commission, and it is considered illegal to use his photo for election campaigning.

A complaint was lodged against Sunil Kumar for allegedly misusing Tovino’s name and popularity for political gains. The notice was served after hearing explanations from VS Sunil Kumar and the CPM district secretary. EC asked the CPM leader not to repeat the mistake again. 

The duo apparently told the officials concerned that they weren’t aware that Tovino was an ambassador of the election commission. After being convinced by their explanations, the EC decided to issue a warning and not to take any stringent action.

Earlier, Sunil Kumar had deleted the controversial photo from his Facebook timeline as Tovino put up a social media post asking people not to use his photo for election purposes. Sunil Kumar clicked the photo with the actor at a film set. The candidate had even written a note explaining their friendship on Facebook.