Former Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson has alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar , while serving as an IAS officer, asked him whether he was interested in contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate from Pathanamthitta in the state.
Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee said she had sent a message to Rahul Gandhi proposing that opposition parties meet.
Election Commission Rejects Allegations
The Indian Express had reported that the two Commissioners had separately written to the Cabinet Secretary after a work allocation order within the Commission. Union Minister Chirag Paswan, whose Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) — an ally of the BJP — had said on Friday that public faith in elections was at stake and urged the Commission to address concerns, said the poll body had now clarified its position on the key issues. “I was serving as the Kerala Chief Secretary then. We were together on a flight. He was very persuasive, I declined it promptly,” local newspaper Manorama quoted him as saying. Oommen Chandy was the Chief Minister of Kerala at the time and had appointed him. The BJP and its allies claimed the Election Commission’s clarification had addressed the concerns and exposed allegations by the Congress based. BJP president Nitin Nabin claimed the opposition had again been exposed for misleading the public about SIR. He was very persuasive; I declined it promptly,” the report quoted him as saying.
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. Congress’ Anto Antony won the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat in 2019 while Veena George of the CPI(M) came second. BJP’s Pathanamthitta pick was K Surendran who finished third with a 28.95 per cent vote share. Kumar became the 26th Chief Election Commissioner in February 2025. A Kerala-cadre officer of the 1988 IAS batch, he completed a BTech in Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur. In 2016, Kumar was Resident Commissioner of the Kerala government in Delhi. The newspaper had also reported that Sandhu and Joshi had objected at least 14 times over a 10-month period to decisions and orders concerning SIR that they said had been issued without their knowledge or recommendation. Earlier reporting noted: According to a report by Onmanorama, former Kerala chief secretary Jiji Thomson alleged that Kumar asked him if he was interested in contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections while travelling together on the same flight in 2016. Jiji Thomson retired from the top post in 2016. Earlier reporting noted: Earlier on Friday, Dipke said CJP would launch a nationwide protest from Mumbai on October 2 and take it to cities across India if Kumar did not quit. The Dipke-led group has also warned of a nationwide agitation, including what it called ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’.
The Commission said letters sent by Sandhu and Joshi to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan concerned an officer on deputation and did not relate to policy or IT division matters.
Earlier reporting noted: “We were together on a flight.
