Former Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson has alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar approached him in 2016 about contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate from Kerala's Pathanamthitta constituency.
Thomson said the conversation took place during a flight to Delhi when he was still serving as Kerala Chief Secretary and Kumar was a serving IAS officer. Thomson said that Kumar was praising PM Narendra Modi in the conversation and then asked him if he would be interested in joining electoral politics.
"I was serving as the Kerala Chief Secretary then. We were together on a flight. He was waxing eloquent about Prime Minister Modi and openly asked me if I was interested in contesting as a BJP candidate from Pathanamthitta in the 2019 general elections. He was very persuasive; I declined it promptly," local newspaper Manorama quoted Thomson.
Thomson said he rejected the suggestion immediately. Thomas recounted another incident early in his career when some people approached him about joining politics. According to him, Kumar learnt about the approach and subsequently tried to persuade him to join politics.
The allegation comes at a time when Kumar and the Election Commission are facing political criticism over the handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The controversy has also involved reported differences over certain decisions within the three-member Election Commission.
Rahul Gandhi Reacts To Allegation
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi responded to Thomson's claim, alleging that Kumar had been involved in recruiting for the BJP while he was a serving IAS officer.
"Gyanesh Kumar, then a serving IAS officer, was used to recruit for the BJP," the Congress leader wrote on social media.
Kumar has not responded to Thomson's allegation, according to the reports reviewed.
Kumar took over as the 26th chief election commissioner of India in February 2025. He is an IAS officer of the 1988 batch of the Kerala cadre and was Resident Commissioner of the Kerala government at Delhi in 2016. Earlier, he was appointed to the post during the term of then Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy.
Pathanamthitta Election Result
The seat Thomson said he was asked to contest was eventually won by Congress candidate Anto Antony in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. CPI(M)'s Veena George finished second, while BJP candidate K Surendran stood third with 28.95 per cent of the vote.
The allegation has emerged against the backdrop of a wider dispute over the functioning of the Election Commission and the ongoing SIR exercise.
The development came after a report by The Indian Express alleging that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders allegedly taken without their knowledge.
Election Commission Says SIR Decisions Were Unanimous
The Election Commission on Saturday sought to address the reported differences within the poll panel, saying decisions concerning the SIR had received the unanimous approval of all three Election Commissioners.
The Commission also said changes to Form 6, which is used for voter enrolment, had been upheld by the Supreme Court.
The statement came after a meeting attended by CEC Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The poll body further clarified that letters sent by the two Election Commissioners to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan concerned an officer on deputation and did not relate to policy or IT division matters.