Thiruvananthapuram: Former Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson has claimed that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar offered him a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Pathanamthitta in 2016.
According to Thomson, the offer was made while the two were travelling to Delhi on a flight. Thomson was serving as Kerala chief secretary at the time. He said Kumar asked him about his future plans and suggested that he contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Pathanamthitta as a BJP candidate. According to Thomson, Kumar told him that he could become a Union minister if he won the election.
Thomson said he immediately declined the offer as he had no interest in contesting elections. He also said he was surprised by the proposal and felt that such an offer should not have come from Kumar.
Thomson further claimed that Kumar praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the flight and directly asked him about contesting the election as a BJP candidate. Kumar, he said, tried to persuade him, but he did not accept the offer.
Thomson, who retired as Kerala chief secretary in 2016, also said Kumar had earlier tried to persuade him to enter politics after learning that some people had approached Thomson about contesting an election. Thomson said he had declined that proposal as well.
The allegation comes amid continued criticism of Kumar by opposition parties over the functioning of the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Opposition leaders have called for his resignation and have also raised demands for his arrest and for elections conducted under his supervision to be annulled.
Reacting to Thomson’s disclosure, CPI Kerala state secretary Binoy Viswam said it showed Kumar’s alleged links with the BJP. He alleged that Kumar, while serving as chief secretary, had offered Thomson a ministerial position if he joined the BJP. Viswam said Kumar should resign as Chief Election Commissioner if he had any respect for the Constitution. He also alleged that Kumar’s appointment was a reward for the work he had allegedly done for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also reacted to Thomson’s disclosure in a post on X. He said Gyanesh Kumar, who was then an IAS officer, had been used to recruit people for the BJP and that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah later made him the “umpire” responsible for “match-fixing” India’s elections.
Meanwhile, former Kerala Chief Electoral Officer T.K. Ram Meena also called for Kumar’s resignation as Chief Election Commissioner following Thomson’s statement. Meena and Kumar are both 1988-batch IAS officers.