Hours after its victory in the Palakkad municipal corporation in the Kerala local body polls, the BJP had painted the municipal office with its propaganda after the workers of the Central ruling party had reportedly unfurled 'Jai Shri Ram' posters in the premises, that stirred controversies and outrage with activists and oppositions flaying the BJP for unfolding its propaganda in the public office. 

As the incident had sparked anger, the Kerala police had on Thursday registered a case against a few BJP workers for putting up the poster and banner of 'Jai Shri Ram' in the corporation building. According to reports, the banner was put up after the BJP retained the municipality after winning 28 of the 52 wards. 

The party had organized celebrations on Wednesday evening after they won the Palakkad municipality in the three-phased local body polls held recently. During the celebrations, the BJP workers had erected the 'Jai Shri Ram' banner, written in Malayalam while some had hoarded the banners with the pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The workers had filled the banners on the terrace and on the sides of the municipality building. 

A video of the incident in which the BJP workers had apparently painted the party's propaganda on the public office had drawn massive flak on social media with many users flaying the Central ruling party. Following the incident, the Palakkad municipal secretary filed a complaint with the police saying there was an attempt to destroy communal harmony. Following the complaint, the case against the BJP workers has been registered under section 153- wantonly provoking with an intent to cause a riot- of the Indian Penal Code. 

According to ANI, Palakkad Police Chief Sujith Das said that the special branch deputy superintendent has been asked to file a report with regard to the incident. Kerala ruling Communist Party of India has also filed a complaint against the incident by citing the act as unconstitutional as the building is a government complex. The Palakkad district Congress Committee has said that the banners had exhibited communal content. 

However, the BJP had seemingly reserved a reason to counter the opposition. BJP's district Chief Krishnadas said that there were over 1,500 BJP supporters outside the counting venue and the banners were erected without the knowledge of the party. Krishnadas said that the police should have been more vigilant and as soon as the incident came to the notice of the leadership, the workers were directed to remove the banners following which the banners were removed. 

In 2015, the BJP rose to power in Palakkad Municipality for the first time and the party had retained the victory with a majority in the recently held local body polls, which had gained national attention as the polls were held ahead of the state legislative election. While BJP had won Palakkad municipality, the ruling LDF had won the majority of the local bodies, which had given a significant surge to Pinarayi Vijayan and a crucial push to the LDF ahead of the assembly polls. Overall, the BJP had pushed to encounter a debacle as it had reached nowhere near to what it had expected. 

On Thursday, amid the debacle, BJP National President JP Nadda had thanked the voters in Kerala for giving an improved mandate for the party in the local body polls. Taking to Twitter, Nadda said, "I thank the people of Kerala for giving an improved mandate to BJP in Local Body Elections. @BJP4Keralam President @surendranbjp Ji & Karyakartas worked tirelessly & with this mandate, we will continue to expose the corrupt, communal & hypocrite politics of both LDF & UDF fronts."