look news india
New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram. Amidst the political turmoil over the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), a new and sensational revelation has created a stir in the political circles of the country. Former Chief Secretary of Kerala Jiji Thomson (1980 batch IAS officer) has claimed that the current Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, in 2016, when he was a serving IAS officer, had offered him to contest on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and become a Union Minister.
As soon as this claim came to light, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has made a direct attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Central Government. While posting on the social media platform ‘X’, Rahul Gandhi alleged that Gyanesh Kumar was first recruited for BJP as a serving IAS officer and later he was made an ‘umpire’ and given the responsibility of ‘match fixing’ of the country’s elections.
Jiji Thomson, who was the Chief Secretary during the Oommen Chandy government in Kerala, shared details of this 2016 conversation in a Malayalam news channel and media interview:
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Conversation during flight: According to Thomson, the incident took place in 2016 when he and Gyanesh Kumar (1988 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre) were traveling together in a Delhi-bound flight. At that time both the officers were in government service.
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Retirement plan and BJP’s offer: Thomson said, “He asked me what are my plans after retirement. I said that I have no specific plans, I want to work on projects related to shaping the future of children. On this, Gyanesh Kumar advised me that the best option for you would be to contest the 2019 general elections as a BJP candidate from Pathanamthitta seat in Kerala, become an MP and then become a cabinet minister.”
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The offer was immediately rejected: Jiji Thomson said that she immediately turned down the offer as she had no interest in politics or contesting elections. He also added that the offer of a political ticket from a serving civil servant was surprising and there should be a limit to political interference in government service.
After the video of Jiji Thomson’s statement surfaced, Rahul Gandhi took on the Modi government at the Center and CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
Rahul Gandhi wrote on ‘X’:
“First Gyanesh Kumar—then a serving IAS officer—was used to recruit for the BJP. Then Modi and Shah turned him into an umpire and entrusted him with match-fixing in India’s elections.””
The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee also raised questions on the matter, asking who had given the authority to offer BJP candidature and ministerial post to Gyanesh Kumar and on whose instructions a serving officer was doing political mediation.
This new political storm comes at a time when the Election Commission is already under fire from internal disputes and the opposition:
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Report of objections of two election commissioners: Recently, an investigative report by ‘The Indian Express’ claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had registered their disagreement and written objections on the decisions related to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and voter list at least 14 times in the last 10 months.
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Election Commission’s stance: While issuing a clarification on these disputes on Saturday, the Election Commission had said that it is a natural and healthy process to have differences of opinions during the deliberations in the Commission’s meetings, but the final decision to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across the country was taken unanimously by the three Commissioners, which has also been upheld by the Supreme Court.
This latest revelation by the former Chief Secretary of Kerala has given the opposition another big weapon to question the impartiality and leadership of the Election Commission, due to which this political conflict is expected to intensify in the coming days.