Ex-Kerala chief secy says Gyanesh Kumar offered him BJP ticket in 2019, Rahul reacts

Former Kerala chief secretary Jiji Thomson has claimed that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar urged him to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket during a flight to Delhi in 2016. Thomson said he declined.

The claim comes amid a row over reported objections by two Election Commissioners to decisions concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Thomson said that Kumar, whom he described as a friend, asked about his plans after retirement. Thomson said he wanted to work on a project for children.

Kumar instead suggested that he contest from Pathanamthitta in Kerala, become an MP and then a minister, according to Thomson. “I declined it promptly,” Thomson said.

Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala-cadre IAS officer, was in government service at the time. He retired from the IAS in January 2024.RAHUL GANDHI, KERALA CONGRESS REACT

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi cited Thomson’s account to accuse Kumar of helping the BJP recruit candidates and later “match-fixing” elections.

“First, Gyanesh Kumar, then a serving IAS officer, was used to recruit for the BJP. Then Modi and Shah made him the umpire and put him in charge of match-fixing India’s elections,” the Leader of the Opposition wrote on X. The Kerala Congress also waded into the controversy, asking who had authorised Kumar to suggest a BJP candidature and why a serving IAS officer was discussing it.

Thomson’s account, however, does not establish Gandhi’s allegation that Kumar later interfered with elections.ROW OVER SIR DECISIONS

An Indian Express investigation said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections to poll panel decisions at least 14 times between October 2025 and August 2026.

The reported concerns included voter enrolment and deletion, appeals against voter-related orders, access to electoral-roll data and an SIR-related declaration in the online Form 6 application process.

The Election Commission has said Form 6 remains unchanged and the declaration is a separate requirement under its SIR orders.

It has also said differences of opinion are natural within the three-member panel and that final decisions, including those on SIR, were approved unanimously.- Ends