Knowledge Kumar allegedly urged former IAS officer to contest for BJP
According to Thomson, Knowledge Kumar was praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi during that time.
Former Chief Secretary of Kerala, Jiji Thomson, has alleged that the current Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar attempted to persuade him to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In this matter, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, also made serious allegations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday. Rahul Gandhi alleged that Gyanesh Kumar had previously worked to prepare people to contest elections for the BJP, and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have made him the "umpire" of India's elections, assigning him the responsibility of "match-fixing" in the elections.
Rahul Gandhi said in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter),
"First, Gyanesh Kumar, who was a serving IAS officer of the Kerala cadre at that time, was used to recruit people for the BJP. Then Modi and Shah made him the umpire and assigned him the responsibility of match-fixing in India's elections."
Rahul Gandhi also shared a post from the Kerala unit of the Congress along with his post, which included a video of a news report mentioning the allegations made by former Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson against Gyanesh Kumar.
According to a report by The Wire, former Chief Secretary of Kerala, Jiji Thomson, claimed that Gyanesh Kumar had offered him to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket.
According to Thomson,
"Gyanesh Kumar asked him about his future plans and wanted to know if he could contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket. Thomson claims that Kumar told him that after winning the elections, he could become a minister at the Centre. Thomson stated that he immediately rejected this proposal as he had no interest in contesting elections."
This claim regarding Gyanesh Kumar has emerged at a time when there is political controversy surrounding the functioning of the Election Commission, including the Special Intensive Review (SIR). Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times to decisions and orders that were allegedly issued without their knowledge during the past 10 months. Following these reports, there were reports of differences among the three members of the Election Commission.
However, on Saturday, the Election Commission denied these reports, stating that there is no difference among the three members of the Commission. The Commission clarified that all decisions related to the SIR were taken only after the full Commission's approval.
According to a report by The Wire,
"Jiji Thomson stated that this incident occurred when he was serving as the Chief Secretary of Kerala. He said that during a flight to Delhi, Gyanesh Kumar asked him about the possibility of contesting elections as a BJP candidate from Kerala."
According to Thomson,
"Gyanesh Kumar was praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi a lot at that time and asked him if he was interested in contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a BJP candidate from the Pathanamthitta seat."
Thomson said that,
"Gyanesh Kumar tried to persuade him to contest elections several times, but he immediately rejected the proposal. Thomson stated that Gyanesh Kumar had tried to persuade him more than once to enter electoral politics."
It is noteworthy that Gyanesh Kumar is a 1988 batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre. Meanwhile, Jiji Thomson retired from the position of Chief Secretary of Kerala in 2016. Questions are being raised by political parties and other stakeholders regarding Gyanesh Kumar's role in the SIR process. Reports indicate that in the past 10 months, two Election Commissioners have formally objected to some of his decisions 14 times.
On the other hand, former Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Kerala, Tika Ram Meena, has also raised questions regarding Gyanesh Kumar's functioning. Meena alleged that Gyanesh Kumar ignored the views of the other two Election Commissioners while implementing changes related to Form-6. Meena and Gyanesh Kumar are officers of the same batch. Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu was also his batchmate.
Meena stated that,
"The Election Commission is a three-member body, and the majority opinion is important when making decisions. According to him, despite this, Gyanesh Kumar made arbitrary decisions."
Meena also claimed that,
"The changes made in Form-6 were contrary to the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Election Rules, 1961."
Gyanesh Kumar's response to these allegations is yet to be made public.