Kochi: KJ Shine, the CPM candidate from Ernakulam in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, has said she will file a formal complaint against social media handles and media outlets that circulated defamatory content about her.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Shine alleged that a coordinated cyber attack had been unleashed against her, targeting her and her family with baseless propaganda. She said the complaint, along with evidence, would be submitted to the Chief Minister, the State Police Chief, and the State Women’s Commission.

“Kerala society will certainly defeat the worn-out politics of misogyny,” she wrote, adding that she had been subjected to personal and family-level defamation in recent days. Shine said one newspaper had also picked up and amplified the false right-wing propaganda.

Calling the smear campaign “rotten, cowardly politics” aimed at destroying her both personally and politically, she said it would be fought legally and politically. “The slander spread on social media does not just hurt one individual but also causes pain to their partner, children, relatives, friends, and colleagues,” she noted.

She also urged society and the government to step in and affirm that women have an equal right to public life. “No woman who stands in the public sphere should be afraid under any circumstance. Those who walked before us faced countless difficulties and smear campaigns. We too will face this situation together and move forward,” Shine said.

“To save the right-wing politics that cannot hold its head high before Kerala society due to its inner decay, attempts were made to insult me using my name and photograph,” she said.