The visual of the hands you see above is from the Election Commission website (eci.gov.in). As clear a representation of the Congress election symbol as it can be. Wasn't our poll panel supposed to be neutral?

The visual appears innocuously on the page, next to details of the 2009 general elections like training module, compendium of instructions of conduct of elections in four volumes and handbooks for candidates, agents and those conducting the elections.

The attention of no opposition parties has yet gone to this in the Election Commission's refurbished website, but two former chief election commissioners are understood to have already protested that the symbols of political parties or even their replica should not be used as icons as they put a question mark on the impartiality of the commission.

Update: The EC, soon after the gaffe was pointed out, took the illustration off its website.