The OOB "Before Query" Business rule named "Approval Query" has skipped the Kingston upgrade 

 

There is a "Before Query" business rule named "Approval Query" that has the skipped the Kingston upgrade. This business rule has been turned to Active "false" in Kingston version. Since it has skipped the upgrade, the business rule was still "active" in the prod instance and it altered some of the queries to the "Approval" table and therefore the issue occurred.

 

Revert the business rule to the Kingston version resolved the issue.