The Election Commission of India has warned CPI candidate in Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, V S Sunil Kumar against using a photograph of his with leading Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas for the poll campaign.

The EC warning came days after Kumar had triggered a row by posting his picture with actor Thomas, who is an ambassador for the Election Commission's Systematic Voter's Education and Electoral Participation programme (SVEEP), on social media.

The actor had himself posted on social media, saying he was an ambassador for SVEEP and that it was against law to use his photograph for election campaign.

Seizing the opportunity, the BJP-led NDA early this week filed a complaint with the district Collector, who is also the returning officer for the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, against the Left candidate for allegedly violating the poll code.

In the complaint, Ravikumar Uppath, the National Democratic Alliance's Thrissur district coordinator, alleged that the Left leader misused the actor's photograph to seek votes and hence, violated the Model Code of Conduct.

As per a recent letter received by the complainant from the sub-collector, the nodal officer (model code of conduct), an explanation was sought from Kumar as well as the District Secretary of the CPI with regard to the issue.

Quoting their statements, the nodal officer further said they said they didn't know that the actor was appointed as the brand ambassador of the SVEEP and added they had already deleted the photo from social media.

They were given a written directive not to repeat such actions anymore, the sub-collector further said in his letter.

The Thrissur constituency will see a triangular contest between actor-politician Suresh Gopi, who is seeking election on a BJP ticket, senior Congress leader and Vatakara MP K Muraleedharan, and former minister and CPI leader Kumar.

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