Rahul Gandhi accuses Gyanesh Kumar of being used by the BJP for recruitment before becoming the Chief Election Commissioner. The allegation follows claims by former Keralam Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson that Kumar asked him to contest as a BJP candidate in 2016.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused Gyanesh Kumar, the current Chief Election Commissioner of India, of being previously used by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for recruitment purposes before taking up his current position. This allegation comes in response to former Keralam Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson's claim that Kumar asked him to contest as a BJP candidate in 2016 while both were on a flight. It is important to note that Kumar was serving as the resident commissioner for the Kerala government at Kerala House in Delhi during this period. He was transferred from this post in May 2016 and appointed as the joint secretary in the Kashmir division of the Union home ministry, which was then headed by Rajnath Singh. In May 2024, Kumar was appointed as an election commissioner.
Thomson's claims have been made against the backdrop of Kumar facing criticism following an investigation by The Indian Express revealing that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to decisions related to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, stating that some had been taken without their knowledge. Their objections were related to the registration of new voters and changes to Form 6, appeals against the inclusion of voters in West Bengal and the handling of voter data in Goa, among other matters. Form 6 is used to register new voters.
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