CEC Candidacy Allegations
Former Kerala Chief Secretary Alleges CEC Offered Him BJP Candidacy in 2016
Anonymous
Former Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson says Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar urged him in 2016 to run as a BJP candidate from Pathanamthitta in the 2019 parliamentary election, an offer Thomson says he declined. The allegation has intensified scrutiny of Kumar as opposition parties criticize his handling of the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls and call for his resignation. The controversy also follows reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected at least 14 times to decisions related to the revision and other electoral procedures. CPM General Secretary M.A. Baby said Kumar should have joined the BJP rather than lead the Election Commission, questioning his independence and integrity; the Commission has said its decisions and directions are legally valid and that differing views are normal in institutional deliberations.
Key Points
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Thomson said Kumar asked about his plans after retirement and suggested that he could win the 2019 election, become an MP and then a Union cabinet minister. Thomson said he was surprised by the approach, adding, “It’s not an offer that should come from him.”
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Former Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Teekaram Meena, an IAS batchmate of Kumar, separately called for the CEC to step down.
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The reported objections by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi concerned, among other matters, changes to statutory voter-registration Form 6 and the centralisation of control over the electoral-roll database.
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Thomson said Kumar had tried to persuade him to enter politics on an earlier occasion as well, after learning that others had approached him about contesting an election.
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Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister and Home Minister had ignored his opinion in the process of appointing Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner.
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