New Delhi: A retired Indian Army Major has written to Thomson Reuters after ANI falsely reported facts about a letter written by the veterans to the President of India.

It can be recalled that a letter signed by over 150 veterans was sent to President Ramnath Kovind, condemning the quoting of defence forces when asking for votes.

Major Priyadarshi Chowdhari was the organiser of this letter, that was written after the Balakot air strike by the Indian Air Force was quoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in their respective election rallies.

The Election Commission had later urged all political parties to refrain from quoting defence forces in their campaigns.

Soon after the letter was sent, ANI had reported that three officers had denied signing the same. This led Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman to dismiss the letter as a fake.

The Wire, however, reported that each of these three officers had supported the letter, and suggested that ANI had misrepresented these veterans’ quotes. But this allegation was denied by ANI.

This revelation prompted the retired army Major to write to Thompson Reuters, a strategic partner of the news agency ANI.