The letter that dozens of defence veterans had written to President Ram Nath Kovind urging him to stop parties from using the military for political purposes has been delivered but Rashtrapati Bhavan sources on Monday claimed the appeal didn’t have any signature.

“We have not received any signed letter,” Ashok Malik, press secretary to the President, told The Telegraph.

Major (retd) Priyadarshi Chowdhury, who had sent the letter on April 15, said the claim was “shocking and ridiculous”.

“I had signed the letter which was endorsed by over 150 veterans. This is shocking and ridiculous that they are now claiming that it was an unsigned letter,” Chowdhury said.

“It’s an open letter and has already been extensively reported in the media across the country. It seems they do not want to take cognisance of the letter and are coming up with lame excuses.”

Over 150 veterans, including several retired chiefs of staff, had written to the President, the Supreme Commander of the armed forces, on April 11 midnight shortly after the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections had got over.

The postal department’s online tracking system shows the letter — sent by speed post (E0921951893IN) on April 15 from Khorda in Bhubaneswar — was delivered at 4.32pm on April 18.

Contacted that day, Malik had said he needed to check with his office and asked this correspondent to call back on Monday after the long weekend starting on Good Friday.

Earlier on Monday this newspaper had sent Malik the screenshot of the letter’s status but he did not reply. His claim that the letter was unsigned came when this correspondent called him on his mobile.

Major Chowdhury said the letter had also been emailed to Rashtrapati Bhavan on April 12 midnight but Malik denied having received any such mail.

“They first denied having received the email and are now claiming that the letter was unsigned. By doing this they are only exposing themselves,” he said.

The unprecedented expression of anguish by the 156 veterans was aimed at efforts by political leaders to take credit for military operations like cross-border strikes and even going so far as to claim the armed forces to be “Modiji ki sena”, as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had done.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had invoked the Balakot air strikes in an appeal to first-time voters. The letter, however, did not name any party or political leader.

The letter had also been emailed to the Election Commission of India on the midnight of April 11-April 12. Commission spokesperson Sheyphali Sharan did not respond either to calls on her mobile or a message sent on her WhatsApp number.

Major Chowdhury, who had sent the letter to the ECI, said: “We need to question both Rashtrapati Bhavan and the ECI about their constitutional duties to the country.”

As the letter kicked off a controversy and left the government embarrassed, an attempt to discredit the veterans had backfired as several former members of the defence top brass stepped forward to stand by the letter after two former chiefs of staff denied they had signed it.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had then used words like “fake” to describe the letter and the allegations.

Among those who had endorsed the letter were former army chiefs Gen. Shankar Roy Chowdhury and Gen. Deepak Kapoor and former navy chief Adm. Sureesh Mehta.

The two senior veterans who denied signing it are former army chief Gen. S.F. Rodrigues and former Air Chief Marshal N.C. Suri but the trail mail released by a veteran had suggested the two officers had endorsed the contents of the letter.