Almost a week after rumours of former Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan's death circulated and were later proven to be a hoax, two union ministers, one of them ironically Information and Broadcasting minister Smriti Irani, were caught unawares and tweeted their condolence. First, minister of state at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh tweeted his condolences on Sunday afternoon, which was later retweeted by Smriti Irani. Both deleted their tweets once they discovered their error.
On March 31, Seshan's wife Jayalakshmi passed away. A few days later, a message started doing the rounds that Seshan, too, had passed away. Media outlets, however, spoke to Seshan's relatives who said he was fine and that the rumours were untrue, after which they corrected the error.
Seshan is a Raymon Magsasay awardee, who shaped the policies of the Election Commission in the nineties, and was known for making elections in the country transparent. He rose up to the ranks of a member in the Planning Commission of India, before being appointed as the Secretary in the IK Gujaral Cabinet. He also stood for elections to the post of the President in 1997, but lost to KR Narayanan.
On Sunday, Singh tweeted, "Shri TN Seshan passed away on 6th April. His wife passed away a day earlier. They dont have any children. A honest upright Cabinet Secretary and later, a Chief Election Commissioner who left a mark. In many ways … end of an era (sic)."
Quoting his tweet, Smriti Irani commented, "Om Shanti."
Incidentally, the ministers' tweets gained significance due to last week's controversy involving Irani when she wanted to clamp down on fake news by stripping away accreditation rights from newspaper and TV journalists, a move she rescinded after an intervention by the PMO.
