The Crossbill News Desk
A former Kerala chief secretary has alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had sought to persuade him to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Pathanamthitta.
Jiji Thomson, who served as Kerala chief secretary until his retirement in 2016, made the allegation in an interview with Onmanorama.
According to Thomson, Kumar, then a Kerala-cadre IAS officer, approached him about entering electoral politics during a flight to Delhi.
“I was serving as the Kerala Chief Secretary then. We were together on a flight. 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. He was very persuasive, I declined it promptly,” said Thomson, according to the report.
Thomson said the approach was not an isolated incident. According to the Onmanorama report, Kumar had attempted to persuade him to enter politics on more than one occasion.
The former chief secretary also recalled an earlier instance in his career when he had been approached by others to contest elections.
“Although I had declined the offer at that time also, Gyanesh came to know about it and tried to persuade me to enter politics,” he was quoted as having said.
Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala-cadre IAS officer, subsequently served in various positions before taking charge as the 26th Chief Election Commissioner in February 2025. The Election Commission is a non-partisan constitutional body.
The allegation comes amid growing criticism of the Election Commission's handling of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Questions have also been raised over the functioning of the poll panel after reports that two Election Commissioners formally objected to decisions taken by Kumar on 14 occasions over a 10-month period.
Thomson's allegation adds another dimension to the ongoing scrutiny of Kumar's conduct and the Election Commission's functioning, particularly as concerns continue to be raised over the manner in which the SIR exercise is being carried out.
Jiji Thomson, who served as Kerala chief secretary until his retirement in 2016, made the allegation in an interview with Onmanorama.
According to Thomson, Kumar, then a Kerala-cadre IAS officer, approached him about entering electoral politics during a flight to Delhi.
“I was serving as the Kerala Chief Secretary then. We were together on a flight. 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. He was very persuasive, I declined it promptly,” said Thomson, according to the report.
Thomson said the approach was not an isolated incident. According to the Onmanorama report, Kumar had attempted to persuade him to enter politics on more than one occasion.
The former chief secretary also recalled an earlier instance in his career when he had been approached by others to contest elections.
“Although I had declined the offer at that time also, Gyanesh came to know about it and tried to persuade me to enter politics,” he was quoted as having said.
Kumar, a 1988-batch Kerala-cadre IAS officer, subsequently served in various positions before taking charge as the 26th Chief Election Commissioner in February 2025. The Election Commission is a non-partisan constitutional body.
The allegation comes amid growing criticism of the Election Commission's handling of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Questions have also been raised over the functioning of the poll panel after reports that two Election Commissioners formally objected to decisions taken by Kumar on 14 occasions over a 10-month period.
Thomson's allegation adds another dimension to the ongoing scrutiny of Kumar's conduct and the Election Commission's functioning, particularly as concerns continue to be raised over the manner in which the SIR exercise is being carried out.
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